Mummified body found in front of blaring TV

[Herman Munster]

http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=oddlyEnoughNews&storyid=2007-02-19T141906Z_01_N17362175_RTRUKOC_0_US-DEATH-TELEVISION.xml&WTmodLoc=NewsArt-R2-Today-8

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Police called to a Long Island man's house discovered the mummified remains of the resident, dead for more than a year, sitting in front of a blaring television set.

The 70-year-old Hampton Bays, New York, resident, identified as Vincenzo Ricardo, appeared to have died of natural causes. Police said Saturday his body was discovered Thursday when they were called to the house over a burst water pipe.

"You could see his face. He still had hair on his head," Newsday quoted morgue assistant Jeff Bacchus as saying. The home's low humidity had preserved the body.

Officials could not explain why the electricity had not been turned off, considering Ricardo had not been heard from since December 2005.

Neighbors said when they had not seen Ricardo, who was diabetic and had been blind for years, they assumed he was in the hospital or a long-term care facility.

[Breeze54]

1. That is a sad story.

The poor guy. I guess the neighbors had seen an ambulance there
a few times and they assumed he was in an assisted living facility.

[kestrel91316]

2. This is just so sad. He had NO ONE who cared enough to check

on him. Old and lonely and alone..................

Oh well, why should I care? Stock market's doing great!!!!!!!

[Breeze54]

3. Maybe he didn't have any relatives?

:shrug:

[kestrel91316]

11. Nor any neighbors who gave a damn about a sick old man, apparently.

Whatever happened to COMMUNITY?????????

Oh, that's right, it's a form of communism so we can't have that here in Amurka.

[Breeze54]

15. I don't think they didn't care.

They thought he was in the hospital and he did live in a remote area.
He wasn't in a highly populated area or a busy street.
I saw the neighbors on a tv interview and they all seemed elderly.

[saigon68]

5. Well Bush the Chimp could care less about these people

Since he believes GOD chose him to lead amerika

This is MORE than DISGUSTING

[Bonobo]

4. I wonder what the mail carrier was thinking...

First of all, this poor guy was blind and haa fucking ROPE tied to the mailbox so he could navigate his way to it. That should be the first clue the guy needed a little looking in.

But a year's worth of mail piling up? WTF didn't the mail carrier do anything? Ever? One knock on the door? Or a phone call or something?

Every mail carrier I have had has been great by the way... That's why it surprises me.

[Catherine Vincent]

6. That's what I was thinking. Why didn't the mailman investigate?

This is a sad and weird situation. I can't believe this guy wasn't close enough to anyone to not have someone check on him periodically. And what about the neighbors? Did they keep to themsleves so much to not check on the guy? So what that the ambulance was there a couple of times? The man was old, blind and all alone. They assumed he was in assistance care. Assumed? :eyes: The neighbors should hang their head in shame, imo.

[rodeodance]

7. when the box is full they put a card in the box saying to pick up your

mail at a local post office. So, it not overstuffed and the mailperson is non the wiser (that no one is picking it up or not).

[Bonobo]

10. That's not what happened though. At least not right away.

From the original Newsday article..

"About a month later, Cowden said, she saw an ambulance at his house. When she saw the mail pile up, Cowden thought he was in the hospital.

At a neighborhood gathering last month, residents commented that they hadn't seen Riccardi in a while, neighbor Diane Devon said. "We never thought to check on him," she said."

http://www.newsday.com/news/local/longisland/ny-libody0217,0,141600.story?track=mostemailedlink

[DBoon]

12. Mail carriers need to deliver their quota of mail

no time to look into the people they server.

This is a consequence of "productivity improvements" and an overall effort to make the USPS run as "efficiently" as a private business.

Chit chat and knowing the people on your route diminishes productivity - so it has to go.

[ForFuxakes]

8. Personally I would love

To have my electric service stay on for a whole year without paying a bill...

[sugargoose]

16. Our electric bill is on automatic bank collect

My paycheck is deposited automatically. If your social security or equivalent can also be deposited automatically, or if he had a fairly large sum in the bank, I imagine things like this could run on their own for quite some time. Being blind, I would imagine he had many of these types of conveniences put in place.

[Up2Late]

9. What amazes me is that no Bill Collectors ever found him. I mean...

...if I'm 36 day late on my Power Bill, my Electricity is cut off without even a knock on the door, until about 2-3 days later when the Collector (so I'm told) is at my door. I'm sure the Bank wouldn't be much more patient than that.

I say, "so I've been told" because once the Electricity is cut, I usually get the message that I forgot to pay my bills (thank to my addiction of needing my "internet fix").

This kind of story always reminds me to stay in touch with my Family. :-(

[Erika]

13. I had my daughter check on an elderly relative today

after hearing about this story. "John" had not returned calls or emails for a few weeks.

He told my daughter that he preferred to be alone and contact people only as he wished.

I also know many people care for their parents by having the monthly bills sent to the children, not the parents.

Just a few possibilities.

[LibDemAlways]

14. How awful that this man apparently had no family or friends

who gave a damn about his well being. It's just so sad and upsetting that not a single neighbor thought to check up on him. Jeez, if they thought he was in a nursing home, you'd think at least one would have made an effort to follow up. However, having really crappy neighbors, myself, I know all too well how this could happen.