A woman who lived next to her brother’s decomposing corpse for up to five years was once a career-driven retail boss who had a strict religious upbringing.
Daily Mail Australia can reveal exclusive details about the life of the elderly woman at the center of the Victorian ‘house of horrors’ that has shocked Australia this week.
The horrifying secret was exposed on Monday when visions emerged of the woman, known only as Marie, being arrested outside the rat-infested, rubbish-strewn public housing estate in Newtown, in Geelong, southwest of Melbourne.
Police made the gruesome discovery of his brother Robert’s dead body in late December 2022 after attending the home for an unrelated matter.
Cops broke a glass panel of the door to gain entry before officers in biohazard suits were forced to wade through floor-to-ceiling trash, rats, dead possums and human feces to reach Robert’s skeletal remains. , which had not been seen since 2017.
The house was so packed with accumulated items that Marie had been sleeping in a small “nest” of bedding among the trash.
Now a neighbor who took pity on Marie and welcomed the elderly woman into her home has given Daily Mail Australia an exclusive look at her background.
Belinda Holt said Marie, now about 74, became homeless after police surrounded her public housing unit and ended up sleeping in a park.
Daily Mail Australia can reveal exclusive details about the life of the elderly woman, known only as Marie (pictured) at the center of the Victorian ‘house of horrors’ that has shocked Australia.
In late December 2022, police officers in biohazard suits were forced to wade through floor-to-ceiling garbage, rats, dead possums, and human feces to reach the skeletal remains of Marie’s brother Robert, who had not been seen since 2017.
Ms Holt visited Marie just before New Year’s Eve 2022 and said she loved “watching the fireworks on my big screen TV” and revealed part of her life story to her.
He said Marie and her brother Robert came from an Italian-Australian family who had emigrated in the 1920s and settled in Geelong, raising the siblings in a strict Roman Catholic home.
Holt said Marie remembered wearing “a nice dress” to social dances as a teenager, but she never married or had children.
Instead, she focused on her career and landed a job at retailer Myer, where she worked her way up to administrator.
Devastated by the death of her grandparents, Marie began to suffer from obsessive-compulsive disorder and other mental health problems and both she and Robert moved into public housing in Russell Street, Newtown.
After leaving her job, Marie continued working for the people of her suburb and cleaning the neighborhood streets.
Mrs Holt said Marie told her: “It’s a working planet, that’s what you do.”
Robert’s remains, still wearing a hat, were found inside the house (above) among floor-to-ceiling trash, rats, dead possums and human feces.
‘Marie’ was known as a hoarder who filled her house with trash. She was arrested on December 29, 2022 on an unrelated matter.
“She cleaned out people’s bins and removed gum nuts from the gutters and made a little money for it, $20 here and there,” Mrs Holt said.
‘I met (Robert) several times. He was a hermit. They were both traumatized people.
The brothers had lived in the house without a telephone and, for part of the time, without electricity.
Holt said Marie was “very fit” for her age, but suffered from “detachment disorder”, which meant she could coexist with her dead brother’s body in the house.
However, Marie rejected suggestions that Marie “slept next to his dead body.”
“That’s rubbish,” he said, adding that he had seen the “nest” of bedding that made up Marie’s bed.
Inside the ‘house of horrors’ that has now been cleared of mountains of rubbish, rats and dead possums among which Marie slept in a ‘nest’ of bedding
Currently boarded up, the house has been forensically cleaned and will be renovated to accommodate a new tenant in the future.
After police arrested Marie on December 29, 2022 over an unrelated matter, she was taken to Geelong Hospital and walked home to find she couldn’t get in.
After police arrested Marie on December 29, 2022 over an unrelated matter, she was taken to Geelong Hospital and walked home to find she couldn’t get in.
Mrs Holt said police had mishandled what was a “mental health” case and Marie had essentially been left on the street, until she took the elderly woman in, gave her clothes and took her to Centrelink.
‘She didn’t have a Medicare card, she didn’t receive an aged care pension. I pulled some strings and the agencies rehoused her fairly quickly, first in a motel. “She’s in a new place now,” Mrs. Holt said.
Ms Holt, who was interviewed by the Victorian coroner’s office about Robert’s death, said the house had been cleaned and was being renovated to accommodate a new tenant.