Sydney Woman's Remains Found Years After
Death
07/ 6/11 01:53 AM ET 
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SYDNEY — When an elderly Australian woman apparently vanished from view eight years ago, no one bothered to call the police. Not her relatives, her neighbors, or government officials, who kept paying her welfare benefits into a bank account that sat untouched.
New South Wales state police said Wednesday that they discovered the woman's skeletal remains on the floor of her Sydney home on Tuesday, after her sister-in-law finally called them to report that she had not heard from the woman – who would have turned 87 next month – since 2003.
"It's sad that the woman appears to have died several years ago without anyone noticing," said police Acting Superintendent Zoran Dzevlan.
Police were trying to determine exactly when the woman died, but said they didn't think the death was suspicious.
The woman, whose name was not released by police, was a recluse who had no relatives except for her sister-in-law, Dzevlan said. The two had a fight in 2003 and never spoke again. Police have not said why the sister-in-law waited years to report the woman missing, or what prompted her to call now.
As the years passed, utility companies cut off the power and water to the woman's home, police said. Centrelink, the government's welfare agency, continued to pay her benefits to her bank account, which remained untouched. Her mail had been redirected to her sister-in-law's home before 2003, but eventually stopped. Neighbors told police they hadn't seen her in years and assumed the house was vacant.
Police said the woman's home was locked and furnished, but looked like no one had lived there for years.
"To hear today that an elderly lady can pass away, be dead for eight years and for Centrelink to still be sending checks to her bank account and for those checks not to be cashed – surely that must set off the alarm bells within government," New South Wales Police Minister Mike Gallacher said.
"(It) really does highlight the need for this state and indeed our community to work closer at building relationships with our community," he said.
Massachusetts Woman Dead in Public Pool for Two Days
The body of a Massachusetts woman went unnoticed for two days in a Fall River public swimming pool, which remained open to the public and was even visited by health inspectors, generating outrage and calls for an investigation.
Marie Joseph, 36, was found Tuesday evening by a passerby, two days after she experienced an apparent accident on the water slide at the 12-foot-deep, state-run Vietnam Veterans Swimming Pool, officials said.
Police said Joseph took her neighbor's son, 9, to the pool Sunday afternoon.
"'Marie unexpectedly slid down the slide, landing on top of him," Fall River Police Chief Daniel Racine said Wednesday. "He further stated he believed Marie went under the water and did not surface."
Police said the boy notified lifeguards immediately after the incident, around 2 p.m. Sunday, but no action was taken.
B.J. Fisher, director of health and safety at the American Lifeguard Association, said lifeguards should never ignore warnings.
"We teach our lifeguards to act like the 911 system," Fisher said. "If you talk to them, they should never question you."
William Flanagan, mayor of Fall River, called Joseph's death "tragic" and said he was demanding an investigation.
"It has come to my attention that health inspectors from the city visited the pool on Monday and Tuesday and inspected the facilities. I have immediately placed those inspectors on administrative leave," he said, adding the city plans to offer assistance to the state Department of Recreation and Conservation, which manages the pools and is conducting the investigation.
A photographer for the Herald News visited the pool Tuesday before Joseph's body was discovered and took aphotograph of the crowded pool, which only recently opened for the summer.
Police said it was unclear how many people, if any, had seen Joseph's body in the pool before it was recovered late Tuesday evening. Her body is being autopsied to determine cause of death.
All 30 of Massachusetts' deep-water pools will be closed until further notice.
New Homeowner Finds Dead Woman in House in Melbourne FL
Orlando -
Matthew Everly bought a house on Cherie Down Lane in Cape Canaveral, FL as a foreclosure home on November 18, 2010. Long after bank contractors had cleaned the house, inspectors toured the home, and real estate agents showed the home did Matthew enter the house he bought to inspect his new property and change the locks. That’s when he found an elderly woman who had been missing for over a year. She was found in the garage in her silver Chevy Nova with a blanket and a pillow.
In fact, the house he had just bought was her home that fell into foreclosure. Kathryn Norris Kunzweiler owned the home and neighbors say she was a bit of a recluse. Power records show her electricity had been off for 18 months. In 2009 she had called the sheriff’s office to complain that her neighbors had messed with her car and it would not start. Though her neighbors deny ever touching the car or entering her property, the sheriff’s office did say that once found, that car would not start but gave no reason.
Investigator Marlon Buggs found no foul play, and no forced entry. All that was left were her skeletal remains which investigators used for DNA testing to positively identify her with an out of state relative also giving a sample of DNA. USAToday reported Buggs saying “Society has changed, and neighbors don’t communicate like they did in the past”, and said they have no positive time when she died. Neighbors say they aren’t really sure when the last time they saw her. It didn’t raise any red flags in the community since she was rarely seen outside her house.
A candle was also found in the car, and police speculate she stayed in her car to catch her suspect that was messing with her car.
