# Man found in apartment 20 years after death **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [June 12, 2004, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-found-in-apartment-20-years-after-death/249969 "2004-06-12T14:10:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2004, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-found-in-apartment-20-years-after-death/249969/1 "2004-06-12T14:10:46Z")
[How incredibly sad](http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=oddlyEnoughNews&storyID=5395648). No one cared enough about him to wonder where he’d gone. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2004, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-found-in-apartment-20-years-after-death/249969/2 "2004-06-12T14:29:31Z")
Hm. I’ve often wondered how long it would take for someone to find my body after I died (unless I die in hospital, of course). I’m guessing that it would happen when the County Assessor decides to seize my house for nonpayment of taxes, or when the bank forecloses for nonpayment of the mortgage (assuming it’s not paid for by that time). How long does that take? 😕 ---
**Author:** ![ParentalAdvisory](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/53a042/32.png) [@ParentalAdvisory](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParentalAdvisory)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2004, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-found-in-apartment-20-years-after-death/249969/3 "2004-06-12T14:59:26Z")
That’ll happen to me. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2004, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-found-in-apartment-20-years-after-death/249969/4 "2004-06-12T15:08:43Z")
I even more surprised that an abandoned apartment building could stay up that long in a city where land is at a premium. ---
**Author:** ![Sublight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Sublight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sublight)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2004, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-found-in-apartment-20-years-after-death/249969/5 "2004-06-12T15:09:25Z")
Maybe the frustrations I’ve had with house-hunting have made me dark and uncaring, but the only thing that really struck as odd about this story is that a building in the Ikebukuro district of Tokyo stood empty and abandoned for twenty years without anyone trying to buy it or tear it down. ---
**Author:** ![Sublight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Sublight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sublight)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2004, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-found-in-apartment-20-years-after-death/249969/6 "2004-06-12T15:10:48Z")
Or… what **Mr. Blue Sky** said. ---
**Author:** ![danceswithcats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9e8a1a/32.png) [@danceswithcats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/danceswithcats)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2004, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-found-in-apartment-20-years-after-death/249969/7 "2004-06-12T17:46:39Z")
> [@Johnny L.A.](#): > > Hm. I’ve often wondered how long it would take for someone to find my body after I died (unless I die in hospital, of course). I’m guessing that it would happen when the County Assessor decides to seize my house for nonpayment of taxes, or when the bank forecloses for nonpayment of the mortgage (assuming it’s not paid for by that time). How long does that take? 😕 Apparently it takes several years. There was a fellow who lived alone in a townhouse, and apparently had all of his bills taken care of by automatic debit at the bank. Some change at the County level made this go awry, and the property was sold at Sheriff sale to an investor. When the investor entered the property, they found the fellow underneath three years of mail that had been stuffed through the slot of his door. The letter carrier had made mention that he thought something was wrong, and (this part was great) the police put post-it notes on the door to call them. _Hint_ Dead guys don’t read post-it notes. :eek: Only then did relatives start a fuss-because the investor got the property for a song, and they wanted the sale invalidated because it deprived them of money. So touching. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![tsarina](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f4b2a3/32.png) [@tsarina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tsarina)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2004, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-found-in-apartment-20-years-after-death/249969/8 "2004-06-12T17:55:49Z")
Nobody noticed that the poor guy hadn’t paid the rent in forever? ---
**Author:** ![Shaolinrabbit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Shaolinrabbit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shaolinrabbit)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2004, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-found-in-apartment-20-years-after-death/249969/9 "2004-06-12T18:02:11Z")
> [@tsarina](#): > > Nobody noticed that the poor guy hadn’t paid the rent in forever? Maybe he didn’t have to pay rent because he worked with the firm that built the building or maybe it was just derelict… Japanese politeness? :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2004, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-found-in-apartment-20-years-after-death/249969/10 "2004-06-12T18:21:46Z")
According to the story, the building was never finished because the firm went bankrupt, and the guy, who worked on it, seemed to have been squatting. ---
**Author:** ![kiffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/d78d45/32.png) [@kiffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kiffa)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2004, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-found-in-apartment-20-years-after-death/249969/11 "2004-06-12T18:35:30Z")
Wasn’t there a story about a Finnish bureaucrat [tax collection] who had a heart attack and died at his desk. His death wasn’t noticed by his co-workers for a couple of hours. They said he was a silent type… ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2004, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-found-in-apartment-20-years-after-death/249969/12 "2004-06-12T18:45:43Z")
But wouldn’t his family or friends noticed him missing? We don’t exist in vaccuums, for God’s sake. ---
**Author:** ![jackelope](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a6a055/32.png) [@jackelope](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackelope)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2004, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-found-in-apartment-20-years-after-death/249969/13 "2004-06-12T21:17:06Z")
> [@kiffa](#): > > Wasn’t there a story about a Finnish bureaucrat [tax collection] who had a heart attack and died at his desk. His death wasn’t noticed by his co-workers for a couple of hours. They said he was a silent type… Yes, there was a story, but [according to Snopes](http://www.snopes.com/horrors/gruesome/fivedays.htm) (scroll to bottom) it wasn’t true. They mention it as a “sighting” of the UL about the proofreader who spent five days dead at his desk before anyone noticed, a story that was originally made up the Weekly World News. At least I think they’re saying it wasn’t true: > [@](#): > > In January 2004, several news outlets picked up a similar story from the Finnish tabloid Ilta-Sanomat, which claimed that a tax office official in Finland died at his desk, but his death went unnoticed by up to 30 colleagues for two days. Coming at the end of a long column about this other one being false, I’m pretty sure they’re saying these stories are all false. Re. this guy in Tokyo, I am severely creeped out to realize that he’d already been rotting in his chair for a couple years when I lived there in 86-87. ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2004, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-found-in-apartment-20-years-after-death/249969/14 "2004-06-12T21:38:01Z")
It weirded me out that they used the word “Skeleton.” What would a body look like after 20 years? Would it literally just be a traditional bleached white skeleton? I mean, I guess if the building was abandoned it probably had rats but…Just kind of makes me feel weird. I dunno why. ---
**Author:** ![dwyr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dwyr/32/363_2.png) [@dwyr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dwyr)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2004, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-found-in-apartment-20-years-after-death/249969/15 "2004-06-12T22:45:23Z")
> [@ivylass](#): > > But wouldn’t his family or friends noticed him missing? > > We don’t exist in vaccuums, for God’s sake. Some people kind of do because they create one around themselves. The article said he was divorced with children. Maybe he cut himself off from his family deliberately. I know that can happen. ---
**Author:** ![danceswithcats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9e8a1a/32.png) [@danceswithcats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/danceswithcats)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2004, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-found-in-apartment-20-years-after-death/249969/16 "2004-06-13T00:46:06Z")
Without paying for the whole article, this is the best I can do as a cite from the Phila Inquirer such that my previous post wasn’t an urban legend: Winning auction bidder finds body inside his new condo Source: Alicia A. Caldwell and Larry King INQUIRER STAFF WRITERS Robert Milner won a sheriff’s auction last week, bidding $17,100 for a Warminster condominium that he had never seen, and went this weekend to check out his investment. He unlocked the front door, shoved it open, and found himself standing before a ragged heap of mail and papers. He looked to the left, saw a mummified corpse on the floor of the living room, and called police. The body, believed by investigators to be the condo’s former owner, Robert E. Barnett, 49, had Published on November 27, 2001, Page A01, Philadelphia Inquirer, The (PA) ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2004, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-found-in-apartment-20-years-after-death/249969/17 "2004-06-13T00:47:54Z")
they wouldnt find my body mummified, my ‘kilkenny’ cats would eat me=\ ---
**Author:** ![rocking\_chair](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rocking_chair/32/2918_2.png) [@rocking\_chair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rocking_chair)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2004, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-found-in-apartment-20-years-after-death/249969/18 "2004-06-13T01:10:30Z")
my first thought was, “well, that beats the philly area 3 year record.” i’m also wondering how property in tokyo didn’t get developed in 20 years. ---
**Author:** ![DMark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@DMark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMark)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2004, 7:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-found-in-apartment-20-years-after-death/249969/19 "2004-06-13T07:58:03Z")
In West Hollywood, California - on the corner of Crescent Heights and Santa Monica Boulevard, there was a little house that I walked by every day. An elderly woman lived there alone. It seems someone broke into her house one night, put her in the closet and put a large dresser drawer in front of the closet and robbed her belongings. Most likely, the robber(s) figured someone would come looking for her, or she would get out eventually. Didn’t happen. Months later, the police were there and when I walked by on my way to work, I saw the door being taken out for evidence. Fingernail scratchings from where the old woman had tried to open the door without success. ---
**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:** [June 13, 2004, 8:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-found-in-apartment-20-years-after-death/249969/20 "2004-06-13T08:12:11Z")
Oh good Lord. There goes sleeping tonight. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-found-in-apartment-20-years-after-death/249969.md?page=2)