Days after the first-floor of a house collapsed due to the enormous weight of piles of trash, a 66-year-old hoarder was found dead and buried under the debris.
According to an Associated Press report, a Connecticut woman named Beverly Mitchell was found buried under the possessions she had been hoarding for years, after authorities were notified that her mail had been accumulating.
“It’s unfortunate because we’ve tried all along to get her assistance, but she was a very private and solitary lady,” Police Sgt. Kevin O’Donnell told the AP.
Police initially visited the house on Thursday afternoon looking for the woman after a postal carrier called the police to request a welfare check because Mitchell’s mail had been pilling-up for at least a week.
The police reported that they found the home cluttered and stacked to the ceiling, with Mitchell nowhere to be found. According to the AP, the house was such a mess that the police didn’t even realize the first floor had caved in until Friday.
After the house was deemed safe to enter, officials cut a hole in one of the walls and began removing the rubbish with a backhoe. That’s when they found Mitchell’s body on Saturday.
Mitchell had a history of refusing assistance to control her hoarding tendencies, and was often visited by police because neighbors or post carriers requested welfare visits.
