A senior Victoria Police sergeant has recalled how officers were left traumatized after discovering the body of a man who had been dead inside a “house of horrors” for up to five years.
The body was found in a public housing unit on Russell Street in Newtown, Geelong, south west Melbourne, in December 2022.
The man’s sister, known as ‘Marie’ and aged in her 70s, lived at the house and police only discovered her dead brother when they went to arrest her over an unrelated matter.
Forensic officers in biohazard suits were forced to wade through trash, rats, dead possums and human feces from floor to ceiling to reach the “skeleton.”
When police arrested a woman at a house in Geelong in December 2022, they discovered her brother’s rotting body inside.
Geelong CIU Detective Senior Sergeant Mark Guthrie said members of the force needed additional support after finding the man’s body.
“It was quite shocking for the members who attended,” Mr. Guthrie said. The Geelong Advertiser.
“The smell, the condition and then having to remove the body with the help of the undertakers, it was quite horrible for them, really horrible.”
He said recent news had “brought back some terrible memories” for officers who responded to the scene.
A woman believed to have been living with her brother’s body is understood to have cut the front lawn of her property (pictured) with scissors.
‘Marie’ was known as a hoarder, who filled her house with garbage
“It’s obvious that this kind of thing shouldn’t happen,” he said.
Newtown is considered an affluent neighborhood and the house is a 15-minute walk from GMHBA Stadium, home of the Geelong Football Club, and a stone’s throw from the busy cosmopolitan center of Pakington Street.
Residents along the tree-lined street complained to multiple government departments for years, but their objections fell on deaf ears.
Neighbors described both Marie and her brother as friendly characters, but clearly outsiders in an otherwise well-to-do neighborhood.
‘She was a bit strange. We all knew her. She wasn’t dangerous or anything,” a neighbor who wished to remain anonymous told Daily Mail Australia.
‘I was outside cleaning and doing things, collecting leaves. She was always so kind and clean. She was quiet, reserved, withdrawn. Nobody knew what was going on inside.
Forensic agents in biohazard suits waded through knee-deep trash, human filth and rats to remove what remained of the man during the discovery in December 2022.
The ‘house of horrors’ has been abandoned and is now empty
The house now remains unoccupied, with boards covering the property’s broken rear windows.
Nicole Stratton, who has lived directly behind the “house of horrors” for the past six years, said she was mortified by what had happened to her neighbor.
“I definitely had mental health issues, but I was definitely shocked by the body there,” he said Monday.
“Although the house was messy inside, it was very well-kept on the outside.”
The woman was released without charge last year in connection with her brother’s death.
The coroner is still investigating the exact circumstances of his death.
The house has been cleared of trash, but still has broken windows in the back.