Woman Suffocates Under Piles Of Clutter In Home

PrayersForMaura

Help Find Maura Murray
Joined
Aug 14, 2003
Messages
14,162
Reaction score
136
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.

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.

More:
http://www.local6.com/news/5917330/detail.html
 
Holy crap! How did she get "under" the clothes? And her hubby didn't know she was there! {shakes head}:confused:
 
I have seen 2 homes like this first hand. I was asked to be on a cleaning crew to help clean it up, hired by the owner's ( a woman ) Dr. This woman owned 2 houses and she would move into the other house while the fiirst house was being cleaned, about once a year she would do this and move to the other house. I did it the first time, it was unbelievable. I cannot even begin to describe how bad it was. When I was asked to help with the second house, I said no way.

How could her husband live like that? Unless he had the same problem.
 
I to have seen some bad houses like this. My best friends huband paid me to clean there's and I said I would only if she would help so that I could try to show her some things and help her. It was so god awful, he dishes hadn't been done in months and had maggets and stuff on them and I picked them up an tossed them in the trash and she was like hey those are expensive and I was like yeah well now they are nasty and have maggets on them and don't think that you would be washing them and eating of them. I mean she was using paper plates by then so just continue to use them. The desk where her computer was had trash around it about 3 to 4 feet high, it was like she sat there and ate and drank and when she was done she just tossed it behind her. Luckily now she has better control of this in her house, her car isn't so lucky though.
 
my mother suffers from this problem although he manages to keep it confined to certain rooms -- most of the time. About 4 years ago I lived with her for a few months and I was not allowed to go into her bedroom. I did take a peek and snapped some pictures as record for her therapist. There was literally no floor visible. Everything piled high. She hasn't slept in that room in years. Occasionally it spills over to the whole house but holidays and family visits cause her to "clean up" -- usually throwing everything into the master bedroom (lol!). Her roof is also about ready to fall in but she won't do anything about it and gets mad if anybody brings up the subject.

It is a mystery to us kids since she was a neat freak when we were kids and we couldn't do anything until the house was spic and span. I guess when we kids moved there was no longer nybody to do all the work and it was just too much for her. Also, she has a terrible time throwing anything away. She accuses me of being unsentimental if I get rid of anything -- always a guilt trip.
 
PrayersForMaura said:
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.

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.

More:
http://www.local6.com/news/5917330/detail.html
What a bizarre way to die; of course I have to cast a jaundiced eye towards her husband, as I can't imagine this happening, hoarder, or not. I'm guilty of having more than I need, and I sometimes have a tendency to put things where I can manage to trip over them, when I am walking through the house, at night, in the dark. I am correcting this problem quickly as my toes, and shins, don't appreciate it very much.
 
My mother has the same problem, but she thinks she is normal. She refuses to seek help or to get rid of anything. On our last visit, I counted 27 brand new boxes of the same cereal and 32 jars of jelly on her kitchen counters. I worry about her every single day.
 
jaxibear said:
My mother has the same problem, but she thinks she is normal. She refuses to seek help or to get rid of anything. On our last visit, I counted 27 brand new boxes of the same cereal and 32 jars of jelly on her kitchen counters. I worry about her every single day.
She must not realize that cereal has a very limited shelf-life; the jelly would have a longer shelf-life, but not that long.

Do you guys talk to her about this?? Be one thing if she has found a great deal, and was just going to give the stuff away to friends and family, but quite another, to keep it all for herself.
 
I have a great aunt and a sister who live like this. My sister just moved into a new home and her old home, which is nice but needs some TLC, still has a lot of "storage" in it. It sickens me. They have five animals. They can afford to hire people to clean and organize for them, but they don't.
 
I've known numerous people like this. There are literally "paths" through their houses/apartments. Hoarding/obsessive collecting is a form of OCD, although it is also seen is certain types of schizophrenics as well. Unlike MONK, people who hoard are far from orderly/cleanly.
 
Jeezie peezie, I'm so glad I'm not the only one with a mother like this! My main complaint is that she has always been a head case and we had to live like that as children in the filthiest and unfit conditions. Now to a certain extent my sister and her daughter (niece) have carried on the legacy so to speak but in their case it's not really because of hoarding it's laziness. I can't tell you how many times me and my daughters have cleaned their houses. A couple of years ago we pitched in to clean my mothers place up and get her moved in no time at all she had the new place fillked up to the max with junk, bugs and funk. She can't comprehend why I don't want to come in her house. I guess she figures since I grew up like that I was used to it or it isn't a big deal? We found a grocery store practically in her living room still in the grocery bags under piles of junk and it was cereal, sugar etc. like 5 bags of sugar 5 boxes of raisin bran, etc. you get the idea. In her kitchen cabinets there were canned goods with no labels and the juices had evaporated. Needless to say all cleaning supplies etc were buried in her living room. Even as kids me and my brother used to sneak stuff into the basement and then put it out for the trash men but she'd catch us and go bring it right back in, then another time we lowered stuff by rope to the yard from the bathroom window. She will not let us clean her house in any way because she doesn't want us to throw out 15 year old newspapers, tv guides, etc. As for the husbands my father divorced her when I was 8, keep in mind she never worked a job either and she's been with my step father for over 20 years and at first he was fighting a losing battle and just became complacent I guess. She's very controlling so the only option for him would be to leave her.
 
Cypros,

Your mother is suffering from 2 different spectrums of the same disorder.
my own mother kept the house obsessively clean when I was young but later she did not clean at all.. She did not collect things but she did not clean.

She had this one basket of clothes in her room waiting to be ironed for FIFTEEN years.. Same clothes, same basket.... This was a women who use to iron her jeans..
 
Amraann said:
Cypros,

Your mother is suffering from 2 different spectrums of the same disorder.
my own mother kept the house obsessively clean when I was young but later she did not clean at all.. She did not collect things but she did not clean.

She had this one basket of clothes in her room waiting to be ironed for FIFTEEN years.. Same clothes, same basket.... This was a women who use to iron her jeans..


OMG, Amraan. Your mother and mine are very alike! My mother used to iron EVERYTHING -- jeans with creases down the front (LOL!) -- and when I got old enough to do my own and chose not to be so anal she became very critical. When she sees me wearing something that is not crisply ironed (which is 99%of the time) she gives be a sad, unapproving look. The strange thing is that she seems perfectly normal away from the home. She has a fairly active social life with lady friends but never invites them to her home. They see her as energetic and fun and always looking nice. She is all those things, but in her home she is also depressed and unable to make decisions or complete normal daily activities. I worry but am 2500 miles away so can do little. It is probably best because I would go nuts trying to get her to do something.
 
Buzzm1 said:
She must not realize that cereal has a very limited shelf-life; the jelly would have a longer shelf-life, but not that long.

Do you guys talk to her about this?? Be one thing if she has found a great deal, and was just going to give the stuff away to friends and family, but quite another, to keep it all for herself.
We have. She will often purchase more of something because she is afraid that what she has is spoiled. Yet, she won't get rid of the old one. She was raised with pretty much nothing and I think she compensates for that by having more than enough of everything. Her hoarding is mostly food, bedding, and toiletries, but she keeps all of her mail, books and magazines too. She says she never wants to be without something she needs.....food, a recipe, shampoo. Her house is not yet stacked to the ceiling, but I imagine it will be some day. She thinks it is perfectly normal and whenever I need to get something because I ran out, she always says "I told you so".
 
strach304 said:
Jeezie peezie, I'm so glad I'm not the only one with a mother like this! My main complaint is that she has always been a head case and we had to live like that as children in the filthiest and unfit conditions. Now to a certain extent my sister and her daughter (niece) have carried on the legacy so to speak but in their case it's not really because of hoarding it's laziness. I can't tell you how many times me and my daughters have cleaned their houses. A couple of years ago we pitched in to clean my mothers place up and get her moved in no time at all she had the new place fillked up to the max with junk, bugs and funk. She can't comprehend why I don't want to come in her house. I guess she figures since I grew up like that I was used to it or it isn't a big deal? We found a grocery store practically in her living room still in the grocery bags under piles of junk and it was cereal, sugar etc. like 5 bags of sugar 5 boxes of raisin bran, etc. you get the idea. In her kitchen cabinets there were canned goods with no labels and the juices had evaporated. Needless to say all cleaning supplies etc were buried in her living room. Even as kids me and my brother used to sneak stuff into the basement and then put it out for the trash men but she'd catch us and go bring it right back in, then another time we lowered stuff by rope to the yard from the bathroom window. She will not let us clean her house in any way because she doesn't want us to throw out 15 year old newspapers, tv guides, etc. As for the husbands my father divorced her when I was 8, keep in mind she never worked a job either and she's been with my step father for over 20 years and at first he was fighting a losing battle and just became complacent I guess. She's very controlling so the only option for him would be to leave her.
That sound very much like my mother. I am the opposite. I can't stand clutter of any kind in my home. Most likely because I lived in it for 18 years.
 
I had an aunt with this problem, but she didn't collect things she collected stray animals. She lived in a impoverished crime ridden area by choice and took in every stray she found. I must say she did care for them very well, but she went through a rather large fortune doing it. No one in the family liked her ....except me.
 
My mother has NEVER gone without. I would say that she has lived a fairly typical middle-income lifestyle her whole life with ups and downs but never without the necessities and always able to have some frivolities. She loves to shop but has always been thrifty as far as buying discount and on sale, but she buys tons of stuff she doesn't need. Her refrigerator is stuffed full and most of it goes bad because she lives alone and doesn't invite anybody oer because the house is an enbarassment. When any of us try to pressure her to do something like put a roof on or get the house painted (the last paint job was 37 years ago and the paint is peeling so badly you can see three different colors) she gets on the defensive and threatens to be even worse. When seeking therapy the doctors just prescribe medication and she then uses that as an excuse -- My medication isn't working / I need to ty a diffferent prescription I wish I could find help for her because I know she is unhappy and it is so unnecessary
 
I watched a Dateline on this. It was pretty sad - a 12 year old who saved tin foil from gum wrappers, all sorts of random things. Her rationale was that someday you might need it. Another woman was a young professional - couldn't throw anything out - they tried to get her to throw out an unsolicited check order form - like you get in coupon packs all the time, and she couldn't do it. She said she might need it. Another young woman couldn't get her car worked on at the shop until she cleaned it out - she insisted on saving movie listings and reviews from 2 years ago b/c sometime she might want to rent a movie, and then she'd have it. And, one of the things they said was that often you'd never know with people like this - outside the house they are very clean, well-presented, etc. Social, too, but they never let anyone visit the house and often keep all the blinds pulled so that no one can see what it looks like inside.

The scariest part about the report was that I totally understood. Granted, I'm not there yet, but I really did understand what they were thinking and how they felt. They were just more extreme than me.
 
http://www.ocfoundation.org/1005/m500a_001.htm

Cypros, that site seems to have some good info including support groups. Maybe there is something there that might help you with your Mom.


Cypros said:
My mother has NEVER gone without. I would say that she has lived a fairly typical middle-income lifestyle her whole life with ups and downs but never without the necessities and always able to have some frivolities. She loves to shop but has always been thrifty as far as buying discount and on sale, but she buys tons of stuff she doesn't need. Her refrigerator is stuffed full and most of it goes bad because she lives alone and doesn't invite anybody oer because the house is an enbarassment. When any of us try to pressure her to do something like put a roof on or get the house painted (the last paint job was 37 years ago and the paint is peeling so badly you can see three different colors) she gets on the defensive and threatens to be even worse. When seeking therapy the doctors just prescribe medication and she then uses that as an excuse -- My medication isn't working / I need to ty a diffferent prescription I wish I could find help for her because I know she is unhappy and it is so unnecessary
 

Members online

Online statistics

Members online
205
Guests online
1,846
Total visitors
2,051

Forum statistics

Threads
589,949
Messages
17,928,072
Members
228,011
Latest member
legalpyro74
Back
Top