An unidentified woman, who paid all her bills from her bank account via auto-payment, was found in her home, presumably six years after her death.
When her bank accounts ran out, foreclosure warnings went unanswered, and the bank foreclosed on the house. Her body wasn't discovered until this week when a worker was sent by the bank to repair a hole in the roof.
The woman was found in her garage in the backseat of her car, the key halfway in the ignition. Authorities, who agree this is a rare and extremely anomalous case, believe she died six years ago, but are still investigating the cause of death.
"I've been doing this 37 years. Never seen anything like this before," said Undersheriff Mike McCabe of Oakland County, Michigan, according to CNN.
Neighbors in Pontiac, Michigan weren't friendly with the woman, who they described as a 40-year-old of German descent, and didn't notice anything unusual.
"She really kept to herself. We never really heard anything from her," neighbor Caitlyn Talbot told CNN affiliate WXYZ.
The oddity also went unnoticed because she traveled a lot, they say.
"She was probably there for a couple of days, then she'd leave for a week, then she'd come back. Then she'd leave for a month and come back," Talbot said.
One neighbor even took it upon himself to mow her lawn, over the course of years, to keep it looking tidy while she was away, added McCabe.
Her identity will remain undisclosed until family is notified.
Authorities are now awaiting a toxicology report, which will take four to six weeks, before determining the cause of death. The medical examiner found no signs of trauma to the body, McCabe said, but described the body as being "mummified."
Dr. Bernardino Pacris, the county deputy medical examiner that conducted the autopsy, told the Detroit Free Press that the woman's skin was still intact, with a parchment-like consistency and leathery texture, and that the internal organs had decomposed.
