A welfare check at a home in Petaluma on Tuesday revealed a woman who had been dead in her home for over a year, with her daughter cohabitating with the corpse the entire time, police said.
Officers were called to the 200 block of Windsor Drive at approximately 10:52 a.m. and saw piles of 20 to 30 packages stacked up on the porch. No one answered the door when the officers rang, and having heard concerns from the reporting party, officers decided to enter the house.
Once inside, police saw the deceased woman in the living room and a second adult woman in a bedroom who claimed to be her daughter.
Police said it appeared that the mother had been dead for over a year. The daughter cooperated with the police and said her mother had died in April of 2021. The daughter was taken to a local hospital for evaluation, police said.
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"Kind of weird to know that just across the street this all was going on and no one else knew," neighbor Sarah Rice said.
Due to the unknown circumstances surrounding this death, the Petaluma Police Department investigators initiated an unattended death investigation. A search warrant was obtained and a thorough process of the scene was completed, police said. The home has been "red tagged" due to the uninhabitable condition of the interior of the residence.
Police said that there are no outstanding suspects or safety concerns in the neighborhood. The identity of the dead woman is being withheld at this time.
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Anyone who might have information relevant to this investigation is urged to call Petaluma Police Detective Daniel Boyd at (707) 778-4334 or email him at dboyd@cityofpetaluma.org.
NBC Bay Area's Christie Smith contributed to this report.
