Mummified body of woman who died four YEARS ago is found in her hoarder daughter's home
The body of a woman whose daughter promised would be buried beside her late husband has been found four years later - mummified and decaying in her home in Gilbert, Arizona.
Janet Pallone Delatorre found her 98-year-old mother Josephine Pallone dead in her bed in September 2010, and told her son that she would be buried in Chicago.
But now her remains have been found still in that very same same bed, in what police have described as a rubbish-filled 'hoarder house' on Leah Lane.
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The Gilbert, Arizona 'hoarder house', where Josephine Pallone's body has lay rotting for four years
Video courtesy of Towson University
A police report says: 'Janet stated she "panicked" and believed police would think Janet killed her based on the condition of the house. Janet assumed the police would think Janet neglected her and that is why she died.'
For this reason, she bizarrely decided to leave her mother where she had found her, and she remained there until police discovered her gripping an old blanket on June 28.
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ShareThey said it was obvious that she had been dead for a very long time.
Police made the gruesome discovery because Ms Pallone Delatorre's ex-husband, William Delatorre, had gained control of the house through the courts, after she had fallen behind on payments.
Acting as a court commissioner, a real estate agent went into the house to find it in awful condition. Concerned, police searched the house to find it full of rubbish, with clothes stacked in piles in many of the rooms, and Mrs Pallone's remains in one of the bedrooms.
They also found a pet bird, which was in healthy, cared-for condition.
Ms Pallone Delatorre's son Nathan told police he had moved out of the house four years ago to go to university, and not long after had been told by his mother over the phone that his grandmother had died.
He said he had not been to the house since, but had been told that his mother's plan had been to bury Mrs Pallone next to her husband in Chicago.
Sgt. Jesse Sanger told AZCentral that the Maricopa County Medical Examiner's Office still has not officially identified the body, and the case is still an active death investigation.
But it is expected the body will soon be announced as Mrs Pallone's.
He added that there are currently no signs of fraud or any other criminal activity.
Police are also looking into the rough date of death, and also to see whether the body has suffered any broken bones or other damage.
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