Authorities in the US city of Michigan has found a woman's mummified body, at least six years after her death, sitting in the backseat of her car, parked in the garage of her home where she lived alone.
Since her bills were automatically deducted from her bank account, residents of the quiet middle-class Pontiac neighborhood said they noticed nothing amiss.
Nobody saw her, but the grass was cut and the mail did not pile up. Some neighbours said they thought she had moved out of the country after the recession hit several years ago.
Eventually, the money in her bank account ran out and the house went into foreclosure, leading to the gruesome discovery this week, Detroit Free Press reported.
The body, clothed in a heavy jacket and jeans, had mummified, Oakland County officials said.
A contractor the bank sent to check out the house discovered the body on Wednesday in the attached garage of the ranch-style home, according to the Oakland County Sheriff's Department.
Undersheriff Mike McCabe said investigators believe the woman has been dead since at least 2008.
"She had USD 54,000 in her account, and her bills were being deducted," McCabe said. "Eventually, the money ran out, and her house went into foreclosure."
An autopsy showed there was no trauma to the body; a cause of death is pending, McCabe said.
Dr Bernardino Pacris, the Oakland County deputy medical examiner who conducted the autopsy, said the skin was intact, though internal organs had decomposed. He said he found no evidence of internal or external injuries.
He said finding a body in that condition is unusual, but "once in a while, we see this."
He said the immediate concern is confirming the woman's identity and learning more about her, including her medical history and social habits, to determine the cause of death.
McCabe said some relatives may have been identified, but he withheld the woman's name until they could be notified.
A neighbour said he assumed that the woman had left after the economy want bad in 2009. At the time, many people were leaving their homes because they could no longer afford them.
