BROOKLINE, Mass. (WHDH) — Families in a Brookline neighborhood were shocked on Wednesday to learn that one of their neighbors had been living with her sister’s dead corpse for more than a year and a half.
Investigators are trying to piece together the death of a 67-year-old woman, whose dead body was found in a “significant state of decomposition” under a kitchen table in a Brookline home where she once lived with her sister.
The Norfolk County District Attorney said they were notified of an unattended death at a house on Clinton Street last month. A relative reportedly visited the home in December and contacted officials after realizing the surviving sister was living with her sibling’s dead corpse. Investigators said the home had “significant clutter.”
The sisters lived in the home for decades and neighbors said they usually kept to themselves.
Neighbor Mike Offner said he rarely saw the sisters despite living across the street for five years. “I don’t think we’ve ever really been close enough to speak to anyone who lived in the house,” Offner said. “It’s been a long time since we’ve seen anyone come in or out of the house.”
Rebecca Burman, another resident in the Brookline neighborhood, said neighbors had offered to help the sisters with their yard, but they had rejected the offers.
“It’s really sad,” Burman said. “I feel terrible that no one in the neighborhood knew what was going on.”
The surviving sister told police she would give her sister Popsicles when she was sick. When she died, she said she did not know what to do.
The D.A. said there was no signs of foul play and an autopsy is being done to determine the exact cause of death. No charges have been filed in the woman’s death.
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