According to the Frankfurter Neue Presse, last week police broke down the door of an apartment in Oberurusel am Main at the request of the building’s management. It had been called to management’s attention that a resident’s mailbox was overflowing with uncollected letters.
Upon entering the apartment, police discovered the partially decomposed corpse of a 66-year-old-woman sitting on the couch in front of a television that was still on. The woman was dressed in pajamas and nearby police found a TV guide open to listings for last September.
Police determined she had been dead for over six months.
According to the report, nobody noticed she had gone missing because she had no children nor any close relatives or friends that she saw regularly.
Chief Inspector Ulrich Demmer of Hesse police department told the paper, “Someone should have noticed. Unfortunately, societal and demographic changes mean that such cases are increasing. Causes are lacking social ties and, in part, the desire for anonymity.”
Police believe the woman died of natural causes.