Police in Pennsylvania discovered a gruesome scene last week when a man’s brother reported that he had died in his home — only to learn that the man had been dead for months.
According to reports from local NBC station WPXI-TV, CBS affiliate KDKA and ABC affiliate WTAE, the brother of 64-year-old Michael Bebout called 911 on Jan. 16 to report that he had died. When police entered the home in Canton Township — located about 30 miles southwest of Pittsburgh — they realized that Bebout had been dead for at least six months.
“Upon arrival, we met the brother. The brother was distraught and basically stated that his brother had passed away,” Greene County Regional Police Department Chief William DeForte told WPXI. “That’s where things took a turn, a very interesting turn.”
According to DeForte, officers who responded to the call immediately noticed that Bebout was in an “advanced state of decomposition,” he told KDKA, adding that it seemed that three family members had been living in the house throughout the months that he was deceased.
“Currently, our investigation from my detectives has uncovered that family members have been very transient in nature, entering the house and spending the night there, leaving, staying for weeks on end, while the decedent was upstairs in his bed,” DeForte added to KDKA.
The police chief also told the outlets that the house was extremely dirty, telling WTAE that dog and rodent feces were building up on the floor and that the family members might be suffering from a hoarding disorder.
“The conditions were awful,” he told WPXI. “There was wall-to-wall dog feces. The situation looked like a hoarder had lived there, very difficult to traverse through the residence, and the odor was extraordinarily unpleasant.”
“Externally, I don’t think that you would really know,” DeForte added to WTAE. “Internally, the house was definitely built up with a lot of dog feces. There was a lot of hoarding. I don’t think that the environment would have been conducive for anybody to live in.”
The chief also said that while investigators don’t believe there was any foul play involved in the 64-year-old’s death, they are looking into any financial crimes that may have occurred. Investigators will look into any social security benefits, pensions or other income he may have been receiving.
“This usually happens when you have a decedent that had passed away and was left in the house by friends and family,” DeForte told KDKA. “They are normally taking advantage of the residence and/or the financial situation.”
