# If an unmarried person dies in their house, how is their death discovered? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 1, 2018, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-an-unmarried-person-dies-in-their-house-how-is-their-death-discovered/825410 "2018-12-01T20:22:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![slalexan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e47c2d/32.png) [@slalexan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slalexan)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2018, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-an-unmarried-person-dies-in-their-house-how-is-their-death-discovered/825410/61 "2018-12-03T15:01:33Z")
At my work, we had an old, very reliable operator not show up to work one day. One of the HSE people got concerned when she realized he was gone and that there were other things he missed out on. She called the police for a wellness check but they didn’t find anything of note and wouldn’t break the door down for just one missed day of work. The HSE lady got really upset and went to his house herself. I’m not sure what she saw or what hapened, but whatever it was finally convinced the police to knock the door down. It turned out that he had been murdered by his daughter the weekend before (discovered on a Monday), supposedly when he refused to give her money for drugs. It was really sad all around. ---
**Author:** ![doreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@doreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doreen)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2018, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-an-unmarried-person-dies-in-their-house-how-is-their-death-discovered/825410/62 "2018-12-03T16:06:18Z")
> [@Emergency911](#): > > The thing that got me was that the caller noticed no trash can at the street for three weeks, but didn’t notice a police car stopping by and walking around their neighbors house three times a day. Doesn’t really surprise me at all - we put our trash out the night before pickup and it remains at the curb for hours. Due to the timings of my comings and goings, I will almost always see my neighbor’s trash cans at least once for each pickup day - I might see them when I get home work Tuesday, but if not, I will certainly see them when I leave for work Wednesday. To notice the police walking around three times a day, I would have to be outside my house at precise time they are walking around. That might happen once in three weeks, but I’m certainly not going to see it three times a day. Of course, I would be checking on my only neighbor who lives alone long before three weeks went by without putting his trashcans out. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2018, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-an-unmarried-person-dies-in-their-house-how-is-their-death-discovered/825410/63 "2018-12-03T17:35:27Z")
> [@pkbites](#): > > Yeah, we’ve had a couple of times where things looked bad and it turned out to be something else. We went into a guys house where he didn’t show up for work or return calls for almost 2 weeks. He wasn’t there. Turned out someone screwed up and forgot that months prior he had requested and gotten approved vacation time. > > He actually came back from Hawaii while we were in his house. No joke. > > He was annoyed at us and his coworkers but it was still a happier ending than the several times we went in and the dude was dead from doing the c & s. People be surprised what a common form of accidental death that is. We had one call that looked like it was going to be bad. The son kept calling but couldn’t get an answer. There were many indications that he was inside. We broke in and there was no answer as we yelled into the apartment. We found the body in bed. As we approached he jumped out of bed screaming. We all almost had heartattacks. He was too hard of hearing to hear the phone, our loud break in, or our yelling. ---
**Author:** ![robardin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/43a26b/32.png) [@robardin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robardin)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2018, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-an-unmarried-person-dies-in-their-house-how-is-their-death-discovered/825410/64 "2018-12-03T21:12:31Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > We had one call that looked like it was going to be bad. The son kept calling but couldn’t get an answer. There were many indications that he was inside. We broke in and there was no answer as we yelled into the apartment. We found the body in bed. As we approached he jumped out of bed screaming. We all almost had heartattacks. He was too hard of hearing to hear the phone, our loud break in, or our yelling. I’m obviously glad nobody actually died in this event, but I have to say, there’s a special irony in play if one of the responders HAD had a heart attack due to the “dead” (unresponsive) person suddenly bolting up and screaming. I’d almost - almost - want to go out that way. “What the —? Oh… No way… Well, I’m dying the way I always lived, with an eye-roll and a facepalm” ---
**Author:** ![skdo23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a5b964/32.png) [@skdo23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/skdo23)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2018, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-an-unmarried-person-dies-in-their-house-how-is-their-death-discovered/825410/65 "2018-12-04T00:58:55Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > The bar I frequent would notice a drastic fall in sales. About 15 years ago I was in the hospital recuperating from surgery and was informed the police were looking for me. Turns out my absence had been noticed at an Irish pub I used to spend a lot of time at so they asked another one of the regulars, the local deputy chief of police, to try and track me down and make sure I was ok. To be clear I did inform everyone who I thought needed to know that I would be gone for a while (work, neighbors, etc.). It just never occurred to me to formally put in for medical leave of absence at a bar.:smack: ---
**Author:** ![notfrommensa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/f14d63/32.png) [@notfrommensa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/notfrommensa)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2018, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-an-unmarried-person-dies-in-their-house-how-is-their-death-discovered/825410/66 "2018-12-04T01:10:52Z")
30+ years ago, My Mother lived all alone, I was her nearest relative and lived about 100 miles away. I talked to her on a Sunday night, shortly before she had a stroke and died. She didn’t show up for work the next day at 8 am, and her co-workers got worried when they couldn’t reach her by phone. They called the police for a wellness check. I was notified before 11 am. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2018, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-an-unmarried-person-dies-in-their-house-how-is-their-death-discovered/825410/67 "2018-12-04T02:21:56Z")
A search on the internet finds lots of news articles about people who died in their homes and were not discovered for years. The longest I could find was a Croatian woman who died in her flat while watching TV and her body was not discovered for 42 years. There had been numerous complaints, reports, requests to check on her, etc, but they all fell on deaf ears of the authorities, apparently. Moral: If you are going to die at home, don’t do it in Croatia. ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2018, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-an-unmarried-person-dies-in-their-house-how-is-their-death-discovered/825410/68 "2018-12-04T15:06:24Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > We had one call that looked like it was going to be bad. The son kept calling but couldn’t get an answer. There were many indications that he was inside. We broke in and there was no answer as we yelled into the apartment. We found the body in bed. As we approached he jumped out of bed screaming. We all almost had heartattacks. He was too hard of hearing to hear the phone, our loud break in, or our yelling. I read an anecdote some time ago by a cop who got a wellness check call. The local paper’s photographer was along for some reason and they got into the apartment easily, to discover the body nude, on his back a bed. It had a greenish hue, common in a corpse after a while the storyteller said, and the smell was awful. He was also erect, a common phenomenon, and the photog asked if something could be done about it to make the editing easier. The cop took out his nightstick and gave a tremendous whack at which point the “corpse” screeched bloody murder, clutching his junk. ---
**Author:** ![Ashtura](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ashtura/32/2963_2.png) [@Ashtura](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ashtura)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2018, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-an-unmarried-person-dies-in-their-house-how-is-their-death-discovered/825410/69 "2018-12-04T15:18:14Z")
> [@JessicaHoyt](#): > > Assume that they don’t have a live-in-boyfriend/girlfriend. And also that they don’t have any kids that live with them. (Either because their kids are grown or they never had any kids in the first place.) > > Since nobody else lives with them, it seems like a mystery how anybody would discover their death. > > How is such a person’s death discovered? And how long does discovering the death usually take? Seems to me you’d have to be an absolute hermit that never leaves the house, jobless, and with either estranged to no family, for you not to be discovered by inquiring minds in a few days or a week. Hell, even in that case, I heard of a guy that [regularly ordered out Pizza from domino](https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/dominos-pizza-saves-mans-life_us_5732a349e4b096e9f0932e0c)s, and they checked up on the guy and called the police. He didn’t die, but would have if they never checked on him. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2018, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-an-unmarried-person-dies-in-their-house-how-is-their-death-discovered/825410/70 "2018-12-04T15:58:41Z")
But someone, be it family, friend, nosy neighbor or bartender/pizza delivery guy/postman has to inquire about your absence. And of course the problem in many of these cases is that no one did. ---
**Author:** ![Martin\_Hyde](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/47e85d/32.png) [@Martin\_Hyde](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martin_Hyde)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2018, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-an-unmarried-person-dies-in-their-house-how-is-their-death-discovered/825410/71 "2018-12-04T16:55:56Z")
There was a guy my Mom knew, he was elderly (in his 80s) and lived alone. He was relatively close with one of his next door neighbors, that neighbor could look out his back porch onto the old man’s front porch. For whatever reason they had an arrangement, the old man told his neighbor every night at latest before he went to bed, he’d be sure to turn on his front porch light. The neighbor would see this light from his house whenever he’d look out his back porch, and as long as he saw the light turn on each night and turn off the next morning, he could reasonably know his neighbor was okay. One night it didn’t turn on, and since they were close and they had the specific agreement in place, he walked over to the neighbors house and knocked on the door. After there was no answer, he went in (door was unlocked), and his neighbor had been murdered. It ended up a couple young guys the old man had hired to do some work on his house decided that an elderly man living by himself was an easy robbery victim and decided to rob him. He fought back and they killed him. ---
**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2018, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-an-unmarried-person-dies-in-their-house-how-is-their-death-discovered/825410/72 "2018-12-05T13:46:26Z")
I asked a similar question in 2013 because I was concerned about my [next door neighbor](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=680844). My mother-in-law lives in Nahant, MA, a small town where the police make automated calls to elderly people every day (if they sign up for the service) and will send someone to check if they don’t answer. ---
**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2018, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-an-unmarried-person-dies-in-their-house-how-is-their-death-discovered/825410/73 "2018-12-05T14:54:42Z")
> [@pkbites](#): > > I can answer this from a law enforcement point of view, as I have been unfortunate enough to been the discoverer a few times over the years. > > The main thing that happens is people all of a sudden don’t show up for work for a week. After numerous telephone calls and even a visit to their home somebody calls the police. Mail piling up in the box and a report from utilities that bills haven’t been paid along with grass not being mowed may prompt a welfare check entry. (Yes, there are steps and processes that have to be done before we go forcing ourselves inside a home). > > Finding someone dead from natural causes after a few weeks is bad enough. When they opted out voluntarily via a shotgun blast is when it really gets nasty. > > For older/retired people substitute not showing up for work with not contacting friends/family for a long time, or not paying certain bills for a while. Utility companies will contact the police if bills haven’t been paid and there is no indication that the person has moved. > > I could go on. Eventually someone notices someone not being around. The time period can be a few days to months. It depends on the individual and their life style. I can vouch for this from the EMS side of things. I’ve went to several wellness checks, and had both happy and sad outcomes. When my mother died, my brother found the body. He had texted her a day or two before, to see what she wanted to do for Mother’s Day. She didn’t answer him right away, but we never thought anything about it. She was a sporadic texter. Taking 3-4 days to answer wasn’t unusual for her. While my brother and his wife were out doing some errand-running, they figured they’d pop in and say hi. He found her laying in the kitchen floor. She’d apparently had a massive heart attack at age 63, and was dead before she hit the ground. Mom had been dead about 2 days before he found her. ---
**Author:** ![Brayne\_Ded](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Brayne\_Ded](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brayne_Ded)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2018, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-an-unmarried-person-dies-in-their-house-how-is-their-death-discovered/825410/74 "2018-12-05T20:18:21Z")
Maybe somebody could come up with a watch-like device that checks the pulse? These days the pulse monitors that sports fanatics wear are pretty small, maybe they could be adapted as a “sign of life” device and alarm? The pendants with an alarm button are fine - if the person wears it, and if he/she can press the button. No use for somebody who has a massive heart attack or dies in their sleep. What to do? Ideally, a trusted neighbor who has a key and checks once or twice a day. Oh, and keep the dishes full if you have pets. Dogs will wait longer, but cats get … ah… self-sufficient after only a day or two. (And despite that I have a cat.) ---
**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2018, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-an-unmarried-person-dies-in-their-house-how-is-their-death-discovered/825410/75 "2018-12-05T23:02:02Z")
> [@Brayne\_Ded](#): > > Maybe somebody could come up with a watch-like device that checks the pulse? These days the pulse monitors that sports fanatics wear are pretty small, maybe they could be adapted as a “sign of life” device and alarm? > The pendants with an alarm button are fine - if the person wears it, and if he/she can press the button. No use for somebody who has a massive heart attack or dies in their sleep. What to do? Ideally, a trusted neighbor who has a key and checks once or twice a day. > Oh, and keep the dishes full if you have pets. Dogs will wait longer, but cats get … ah… self-sufficient after only a day or two. (And despite that I have a cat.) As someone mentioned above, I think, and as I found out when I got one for my mother, the latest devices can tell when you fall. They might not notice if you die in your chair or bed, but if you fall out of your chair, or pass out or pass away while standing, they’ll notice. And unlike the device I got for my aunt 10-15 years ago, which only worked within a few dozen feet of the base unit, and was therefore useless if something happened when she was out of the house, there are now cellular-based units that work anywhere you have a cell signal. ---
**Author:** ![iamthewalrus\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/258eb7/32.png) [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2018, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-an-unmarried-person-dies-in-their-house-how-is-their-death-discovered/825410/76 "2018-12-07T22:14:21Z")
> [@Brayne\_Ded](#): > > Maybe somebody could come up with a watch-like device that checks the pulse? These days the pulse monitors that sports fanatics wear are pretty small, maybe they could be adapted as a “sign of life” device and alarm? > The pendants with an alarm button are fine - if the person wears it, and if he/she can press the button. No use for somebody who has a massive heart attack or dies in their sleep. What to do? Ideally, a trusted neighbor who has a key and checks once or twice a day. > Oh, and keep the dishes full if you have pets. Dogs will wait longer, but cats get … ah… self-sufficient after only a day or two. (And despite that I have a cat.) [The Apple Watch](https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT208944) notices if you fall down, and will display a prompt to call emergency services or dismiss it, and if you don’t dismiss it in a short period of time, it will call automatically. It can also read your pulse, so it’s possible they’ll add a pulse detector at some point. I can imagine them not doing so, though. Probably too many false negatives compared to the fall detector. And a fall detector serves a more important purpose of potentially saving people. If your pulse stops and you’re by yourself, the only thing that emergency call is going to do is save someone a potentially more messy cleanup. There’s no way that someone’s getting to you in time to start your heart up again. If you fall down and hurt yourself, the window for emergency response is substantially larger. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-an-unmarried-person-dies-in-their-house-how-is-their-death-discovered/825410.md?page=3)