Buzz
For some individuals, the idea of death is hard to accept. Numerous stories exist where people live alongside the deceased for months or even years. These cases often involve the elderly or those with mental health struggles, who fear that reporting a death will bring dire consequences. In some instances, the presence of decay goes unnoticed. Factors like religious beliefs, deep isolation, and even violent tendencies can lead to such macabre cohabitation.
10. The Blind Hoarder from Brooklyn
In September 2016, an elderly woman from Brooklyn was discovered living with the body of her son, whom she had not seen in two decades. Rita Wolfensohn, a legally blind hoarder, failed to notice the corpse amid the heaps of clutter.
Rita’s sister-in-law, Josette Buchman, found a “perfectly preserved” skeleton on the second floor of the home. The body, still dressed in jeans, sneakers, and a shirt, was lying on its back atop a thin mattress. Authorities believe Rita had no knowledge that she was coexisting with her son's remains.
The room where the body was discovered was filled with trash and cobwebs. As one officer described it, “It looked like a garbage truck had emptied its load.” Police reported that the room smelled of decayed food—but not rotting flesh.
Authorities suspect the remains belong to Louis Wolfensohn. Rita had thought Louis had moved away and severed ties with her two decades earlier. As of early 2017, he would have been nearly 50 years old.
9. Disastrous Sky Burial
On May 3, 2014, authorities found the body of 88-year-old Gerald Gavan hidden under a tarp in his Lafayette, Indiana living room. His wife, 55-year-old Ila Solomon, claimed he had passed away five days earlier. However, the coroner’s report revealed that Gavan had been dead for more than nine months.
For nearly a year, Gavan’s friends had been inquiring about his whereabouts. Solomon explained that he was either golfing or visiting the Grand Canyon. As the excuses became increasingly far-fetched, an out-of-state friend reached out to the police, prompting an investigation.
Solomon was arrested and charged with welfare fraud, theft, and failing to report a death. She explained that she had kept her husband's body around because of his wish for a “sky burial”—a Tibetan funeral tradition where vultures consume the deceased.
According to Solomon, “He wanted me to open the door so the birds could enter, but the birds only reached the air conditioner.”
8. Resurrection and Rodents
In 2014, a Canadian woman admitted to neglecting to inform authorities about her husband’s death. Kaling Wald, 50, allowed her deceased husband’s body to decompose in their Hamilton, Ontario, home for six months as she prayed for his resurrection.
On September 17, 2013, a sheriff found the remains of Peter Wald during an eviction after the family defaulted on their mortgage. Peter had passed away around March 2013 due to complications from diabetes. He had refused medical treatment, believing that God would heal him.
After her husband's death, Kaling covered him in blankets, locked the door, and sealed the vents and doors with duct tape. She expected the upcoming eviction and packed Peter’s belongings, preparing to move them to a new home.
However, upon opening the sealed room, they found that the corpse had attracted rodents. Peter Wald’s body was so severely decomposed that it could not be identified through a photograph.
7. Water and Fudgsicles
On December 14, 2016, authorities discovered the remains of a 67-year-old woman beneath the kitchen table in a $1.2 million Brookline, Massachusetts, home she shared with her sister. An autopsy confirmed that Hope Wheaton had died in July 2015. Her older sister, Lynda Waldman, had been living with the body for more than a year.
Wheaton would sometimes fall and be unable to rise. Her 74-year-old sister would “give her water and Fudgsicles until she felt better.” But this time, Wheaton never recovered, and Waldman was unsure how to handle the situation.
Massachusetts officials described the Brookline home as a “hoarding situation.” A neighbor noticed a strong, unpleasant odor coming from the residence and informed her daughter-in-law, who went to investigate.
Throughout the year, neighbors inquired about Wheaton’s wellbeing, but her sister would simply ignore them. Police and senior services conducted several welfare checks, but Waldman rejected their assistance.
6. Ex-Pats Who ‘Lost Their Sense Of Reality’
In January 2016, Spanish authorities uncovered that an American expatriate couple had been living with the body of their seven-year-old son for several months in Girona, Spain. This discovery occurred after the landlord visited to collect overdue rent payments.
Bruce and Shrell Hopkins had concealed the death of their son Caleb from authorities for over two months. Caleb had suffered from asthma, and after his passing, the couple reportedly “lost their sense of reality.” Prosecutors claimed that “They could not accept that the child was dead.”
The couple faces charges of negligent homicide after it was revealed that they refused to take Caleb to a hospital due to their disbelief in conventional medicine.
The exact date of Caleb’s death remains unclear. He was last seen alive at a birthday party on November 15, 2015. Originally from Detroit, the couple has two other children, aged 12 and 14, who were placed into state custody.
5. Psycho Situation
In July 2014, authorities uncovered that a Brooklyn woman had been coexisting with her deceased mother’s body for more than two years. The discovery came when a superintendent visited to investigate a leak. Chava Stirn, 28, refused to open the door, prompting emergency responders to break it down. Inside, they found Stirn sitting in a chair surrounded by trash that reached her waist. She claimed that her mother “left her there to die.”
A law enforcement source disclosed that Stirn had placed her mother’s skeletal remains on a pile of trash bags in the kitchen. Stirn would sleep beside the body, prop it up at the table, and dress them both in identical outfits.
Susie Rosenthal, 61, might have been deceased for as long as three years. Stirn never left the small apartment and refused to allow anyone inside. Neighbor Malka Lerner, 41, mentioned hearing odd sounds from within, including Stirn frequently yelling, “I kill myself!”
4. ‘I Feel Differently About Death’
“Death is very difficult for me to accept,” Jean Stevens explained when authorities in Pennsylvania found out that she had been coexisting with the corpses of her husband and twin sister for over ten years.
In 2010, authorities found that the 91-year-old had exhumed the embalmed remains of her relatives and stored them in her home in Wyalusing. James Stevens, her husband of nearly 60 years, had passed away in 1999, while her twin sister, June, had died in October 2009.
“I perceive death differently,” Jean remarked, showing no hesitation in applying makeup or dressing her twin in “her finest housecoat.” The grieving woman said that placing glasses on June “made all the difference.”
She positioned her husband on a couch in the detached garage, dressed in a dark suit, white shirt, and a blue knit tie. She found solace in having her loved ones close by, to touch, observe, and converse with them.
3. Mummified Mother
In late 2016, police in Kiev uncovered that a Ukrainian man had taken his own life after living with his mother’s mummified body for five years. The authorities entered his home after neighbors reported a water leak.
When officers arrived, they had to break down the door. They found the man hanging from the chandelier, and underneath a rug, the mummified remains of his mother were discovered. The extreme level of mummification suggested she had been dead for at least five years. There were no signs of injury or foul play on her body.
Locals described the man as a solitary and inconspicuous figure. Neighbors had been suspicious ever since his mother seemingly disappeared five years earlier. Initially, he claimed she had moved to the countryside, but later he said she had relocated abroad to live with relatives. Investigations into the cause of her death are still underway.
2. Everyone Thought He Was Strange
In 2014, a Connecticut man was charged with murder after authorities found that he had been living alongside his mother’s decaying body for several months. John Waszynski, 59, was discovered cohabiting with a severely decomposed corpse, which took several days to identify.
An autopsy determined that 86-year-old Krystyna Waszynski had died from homicide due to “neck compression and blunt force trauma to the upper body.” Police became suspicious after receiving a tip from Waszynski’s brother, who was unable to gain access to the home.
John Waszynski inherited the Wethersfield ranch-style house from his father, a survivor of Auschwitz, in 2006. Neighbors who had known him for ten years revealed they were unaware of any woman living there. Kimberly Robinson, a neighbor, said, “Everyone thought he was strange. You just got a creepy feeling from him.”
Police had been called to the residence previously after reports of a man wandering around outside without clothes. However, no arrests were made at that time.
1. Watching TV With A Skeleton
In 2015, a British man in Stafford was found living with his father’s corpse after a neighbor noticed him watching TV next to a skeleton. Kenneth Brown, 94, had passed away following a fall. His son, Timothy, 59, discovered him the following day. Instead of notifying authorities, Timothy positioned his father in his favorite armchair. Kenneth was last seen alive in April 2014, with his body found in October 2014.
Timothy disclosed that Kenneth had fallen during a fire in his bedroom. Afterward, Timothy helped his injured father settle into the armchair. Kenneth managed to eat some soup and appeared to be recovering. However, when Timothy checked on him the following day, he found his father had passed away.
Due to Timothy's failure to report his father's death, contacting authorities became increasingly difficult over time. The body had decomposed significantly, preventing coroners from determining the cause of death. Nonetheless, foul play is not suspected.
