The corpse of a 66-year-old German woman who died more than six months ago was found in her apartment in front of a television set that was still on. The woman, in the town of Oberursel near Frankfurt, died of natural causes in a nightgown while watching TV on the sofa.
There was a programme guide from September nearby, the lights were still on and her body was described in one report as being partially mummified. Neighbours called police when they noticed that her letterbox was overflowing, the Frankfurter Neue Presse newspaper said on Tuesday.
Officers broke the door down and made the grim discovery. Tragically, the death showed that very few people visited the woman. Chief Inspector Ulrich Demmer of Hesse police department told the paper: ‘Someone should have noticed. Unfortunately, societal and demographic changes mean that such cases are increasing.’