CA Mummified body found in San Francisco hoarder's house

zwiebel

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Officials investigating a foreclosed Richmond, San Francisco house filled to the ceiling with junk found a mummified body Saturday. Jars of human urine and animal and dog waste were also found amidst the debris that was even blocking the front door.

It's reported that an elderly woman, her adult daughter and a dog lived in the house. Neighbors report the mother hasn't been seen for several years and the daughter's now in hospital. Police say they are not suspecting foul play at this stage but are awaiting a coroner's report. Apparently there was a man living in an 'in law unit' at the house too, who didn't even know it was in foreclosure.

http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/No-foul-play-suspected-with-S-F-mummified-6180349.php
 

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With these awful hoarding cases, the most obvious explanation is always some level or type of mental illness.

It totally mystifies me when more than one adult is involved. Are they all mentally ill in the same way, that they would choose to live in such conditions?
 
I totally wish I didn't click on this thread,I feel really quite ill now!

My house is not the cleanest and I collect a lot of junk(In my defence,I have an 18mth old princess!!)but that is something else!!

[emoji79]
 
I love those hoarding shows :blushing:.

This is a bit extreme, though. Worst I ever saw on television were some mummified cats.
 
The daughter is 65 years old. I read that mother died about 7 years ago, father died in 2000. Looks like it's a tax lien foreclosure. And since the house was bought years ago, under prop 13, taxes were under $2500/yr. So multiple year taxes, penalties, interest would need to be paid.

It's in a good area. Zillow estimates the 2-ba home at over $2 million. According to Trulia average list price for the area is $1.725 million. I hope after cleaning etc, the daughter gets what is due to her.
 
http://pix11.com/2015/04/06/mummified-body-unearthed-in-alleged-hoarder-daughters-home/

Police said a tax consultant called them after the woman’s daughter tried to get tax advice and revealed her secret about her mother’s body.

snip

“I felt really sorry for Carolyn because she’s a very nice person,” neighbor Sharon Kish said. Kish had known Ragin for some 20 years.

She believes, like all the other trash in the home, Ragin couldn’t let her mother go and was hoarding the body.

“I saw her three days ago and I said, ‘Is your mother still with us?’ And she said, ‘Yes.’ Delusional? She was still with her. She was. She was still with her,” Kish recalled.
 
This sounds like Diogenes Syndrome to me. I have cared for people living with this, awful that it is, the lady living there must be very distressed right now

I wandering about hoarders that do keep their clothes and themselves clean.My grandmother was a hoarder,she had many cats but kept herself and her clothes clean.As a kid I was told I could not visit because of allergies to the cats but when my uncle went to demolish her house I went to help remove antiques (ruined).I was shocked,my mother tried to prepare me but it has stayed with me to the point that I am opposite of a hoarder,I love to throw out stuff.If I buy something new( I have to think hard if I really need it or have the space) I toss something not needed.I am at goodwill twice a month.My mother was close to becoming a hoarder and my grandmother thankfully died in a cute clean grandma house my uncle bought her.My OCD is extreme opposite I have everything in bins baskets and boxes,even boxes have boxes.When the Hoarder show started I had no idea that this happens to others and am afraid of this happening to me.
Thankfully this woman will get help but I hope she does not get taken advantage of because a home in SF is a gold mine.
 
I just do not understand people who keep themselves hygienically clean but live in squalor. There have been a few of the shows I've watched where it is just trash, rotting food in the refrigerator, and etc.

These shows had also shown where the people had sons, daughters, or relatives in regular contact, yet never went in or even suspected their loved one lived that way.

Every living person needs someone, even if it's not a relative, to keep up with them, IMO. Sometimes people need help.

MOO
 
http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-mummified-body-hoarder-san-francisco-20150406-story.html

The body--believed to be that of a woman in her 90s--was found Saturday covered in a blanket under mounds of trash inside a home in the 100 block of Fourth Avenue, according to Victor Lim, a legislative aide to San Francisco County Supervisor Eric Mar.

The woman may have been dead for at least five years, he said. Meanwhile, her 65-year-old daughter lived in the upstairs portion of the Victorian-style home, Lim said.


snip

Authorities were first alerted to the home’s condition last Tuesday after the property was put up for auction and someone went to the home to place a notice outside.

After reviewing the notice, the woman’s daughter sought the help of an attorney, who alerted police about the conditions of the home, he said.
 
I really believe there is hoarding and then there is utter slovenliness.

I can see being obsessively attached to your plethora of Hummel figurines. Or gum wrappers. Whatever.

But storing rotting food, adult diapers full of faeces, and the occasional dead pet is just so effed up. That is filth, not hoarding.
 
I just do not understand people who keep themselves hygienically clean but live in squalor. There have been a few of the shows I've watched where it is just trash, rotting food in the refrigerator, and etc.

These shows had also shown where the people had sons, daughters, or relatives in regular contact, yet never went in or even suspected their loved one lived that way.

Every living person needs someone, even if it's not a relative, to keep up with them, IMO. Sometimes people need help.

MOO

Well in defense of myself and my family members,they did try to help her.She had help in the beggining with cleaning before it got too bad,it continued to excelate and they had many of the cats removed.She was left with two cats and still was getting out of control.This was during the 1970's before it was a known mental illness.In my defense I was a small child.
My uncle eventually removed her and demolished the home and put her in a nice little house with no pets close to his home so he could help her.He did everything too help his mother,some people can not be helped even when others are there to help them.Like alcoholism you can not help them if they do not want to be helped or change.
 
Well in defense of myself and my family members,they did try to help her.She had help in the beggining with cleaning before it got too bad,it continued to excelate and they had many of the cats removed.She was left with two cats and still was getting out of control.This was during the 1970's before it was a known mental illness.In my defense I was a small child.
My uncle eventually removed her and demolished the home and put her in a nice little house with no pets close to his home so he could help her.He did everything too help his mother,some people can not be helped even when others are there to help them.Like alcoholism you can not help them if they do not want to be helped or change.
Thank you for sharing your experience. You were just a little one you couldn't have known or known how to help :-(

People who have tendencies towards hoarding are not frequently happy to have help, as "help" to them means someone coming in and taking their stuff. That can cause a lot of anxiety and anger towards the people trying to help. Families sometimes feel guilt because they see that they're causing distress in their family member. Sometimes hoarders will isolate themselves or not allow anyone in because they have a fear of people taking their stuff. It's not as simple as just coming in and cleaning when someone is going to argue about every little plastic container.
It sounds like your family did the very best they could.
 
Financial considerations are often at the root of these situations too. Who was the actual owner of the house -- the deceased mother ?

''......, is listed as being owned by Anna and Archibald Ragin. A man who works at a nearby market said Archibald Ragin died years ago''

http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/No-foul-play-suspected-with-S-F-mummified-6180349.php

Was there a regular deposit of pension into the mother's account that the daughter was accessing?

This of course totally aside from the hoarding and collection of garbage.
 
I really believe there is hoarding and then there is utter slovenliness.

I can see being obsessively attached to your plethora of Hummel figurines. Or gum wrappers. Whatever.

But storing rotting food, adult diapers full of faeces, and the occasional dead pet is just so effed up. That is filth, not hoarding.


totally agree - that's where it crosses the line into a question of mental health issues ((MOO))
 
I found a news source that indicates the 65 yr old has been hospitalized previously for hoarding

http://sfist.com/2015/04/05/mummified_body_taken_out_of_hoarder.php

'"According to ABC 7, neighbors say the woman living at the house had been hospitalized before for hoarding. One neighbor said the house was "worse than the show."

and

"Neighbors tell ABC7 News that a senior resident in the home has been hospitalized at least once for extreme hoarding"

http://abc7news.com/news/person-found-dead-in-sf-home-may-have-been-a-hoarder/628487/
 
Given that there was a renter in the inlaw suite perhaps one of the drivers was plain and simple greed MOO
 
Given that there was a renter in the inlaw suite perhaps one of the drivers was plain and simple greed MOO

Can you elaborate? I'm not sure I understand. Thanks :)
 

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