Posted on 01/09/2006 6:22:49 AM PST by plain talk
A woman in Shelton, Wash., who was reported missing by her husband, was found dead under piles of clutter in their home, where she suffocated to death, according to police. Shelton Police Chief Terry Davenport said the home was so cluttered that police officers' heads touched the ceiling as they climbed over the clutter.
Authorities found the body of 62-year-old Marie Rose buried under clothes after 10 hours of searching. She reportedly suffered from a condition known as hoarding. Rose's husband believes she fell while looking for the phone in the house this week and suffocated. There were so many piles of items that the man did not realize she was dead in the home.
(Excerpt) Read more at local6.com ...
I guess they should have bought a bigger house before it was too late.
This reminds me, I'd better reinforce some of those shoring beams or you'll be reading about me in the newspaper.
The FlyLady rocks! lol
The Collyer brothers in New York are a well known example. My great-aunt Nell was a sufferer as well, but she didn't get squashed (my dad and other relatives moved her to an apartment in the Georgian Terrace Hotel and then cleaned out the house) so nobody knows about it but us.
I hate "estate" sales like that, I have been to many and the best thing to do with that sale is put a dumpster out front and empty the entire house into dumpster.
CHAOS can be deadly
Thank heavens! I was afraid my son & his roommates were the only ones!
Note to self: Clean house before it's too late!
bump
***...pizza boxes with best if eaten dates in Roman Numerals...***
FUNNY line.
Nothing like waking to a shiny sink!
Are you both Flybabies? I am.
My sister and dear friend are both FLYing now as well :)
(I sent Kelly a link to this story)
I highly recommend it. Her book Sink Reflections is excellent. I had forgotten all about it until your post. Now if I can just find it under all this clutter, maybe there is some hope for me.
It's hard to believe until you seen it. Had to help a relative with this condition move out of her apartment. My nephew and I couldn't get the door open to one of the rooms - stuffed with all kinds of crap - stacks of mail, newspapers, several hundred bars of soap and tuna fish, sweaters, dresses, blouses, purses, bought five at a time, still in their store boxes, and mega-expensive ballroom dancing outfits. Had to have my sister distract her while we wedged our way inside like cave divers, shut the door, opened up a window and loaded it directly out to a pickup. After five loads we got to the floor. I'll bet we threw away (to Goodwill)at least a hundred grand worth of stuff. Had to inch our way through the bottom feeders surrounding us like garbage dump seagulls to get the stuff safely to the back door of Goodwill.
Could have made her some money out of it on Ebay, but we flew into LA for this emergency two-day rescue effort to help after she got evicted for a very similar situation (passed out in apartment and nobody could reach her on the phone or get into the apartment), and we didn't have the luxury of time.
I know I’m a pack rat – but after reading this I think I will have to try to change my ways. But it’s so hard to toss anything. I might need it tomorrow, even stuff I haven’t used in years.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.