Petaluma Police: Daughter lived with corpse of dead mother for over a year
PETALUMA – Police in Petaluma launched a suspicious death investigation Tuesday after discovering the body of woman who apparently died last year inside a home, while her daughter was also living there.
Officers were called to a home on the 200 block of Windsor Drive shortly before 11 a.m. to perform a welfare check, after a resident was not seen for several weeks. Neighbors reported to police that 20 to 30 packages were stacked on the front porch and no one had answered the door.
When police arrived, attempts to contact the resident were not successful.
Officers decided to enter the home and discovered a dead woman inside the living room and an adult woman who claimed to be her daughter in a bedroom.
Police said the body was in "advanced" stages of decomposition and that it appeared she had been deceased for over a year. The daughter told officers that her mother had died of natural causes in April of 2021.
Based on the daughter's condition, police said she was transported to a local hospital for medical evaluation and treatment.
Police have not released the identity of the woman who died.
After investigators processed the scene, a code enforcement officer from the city red-tagged the home, saying the interior conditions of the building were uninhabitable.
There are no outstanding suspects in the case or other safety concerns in the neighborhood, Petaluma Police said Tuesday night.
Anyone who may have information about the case is asked to contact Detective Daniel Boyd by emailing dboyd@cityofpetaluma.org or calling 707-776-3743.
