LOS ANGELES – Police found the body of a person who had been dead for about a year in the back bedroom of a trash-infested North Hollywood home that was occupied by a man, dozens of cats and three opossums.
Police believe a 48-year-old man lived in the house with his mother, who owned the home and would be 86 years old if she is alive.
A mortgage broker told police the home was foreclosed on Monday and expressed concern about an older woman who lived there.
The man let officers into the home to investigate. Police say it was surrounded by rusty cars and garbage in the yard, and the home so stuffed with garbage that firefighters had to hoist the body out through a back window.
Los Angeles County coroner Lt. John Cades says the body, which has not been identified, was so severely decomposed that investigators could not determine the dead person's gender.
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