Many visits, but no one knew about body
Brookline cops who made three well-being checks last summer to the home of two elderly sisters never realized one of them had been living alongside their sibling’s decomposing corpse for as long as a year, authorities say.
On June 8, an officer responding to a caller who was concerned about the condition of the Clinton Road home was unable to contact anyone and believed the place “may have been abandoned,” police records show.
Two weeks later, a National Grid contractor who was doing safety checks also called police, telling them the house appeared “unkept” and noting neighbors hadn’t seen the owners — Lynda Waldman and Hope Wheaton — in “several weeks.”
Police records also show a resident at the house was checked by the Brookline firefighters but refused help.
On July 13, Springwell elder services asked police to check on Wheaton, 67, saying she was unable to care for herself, the house was “unkept,” and Springwell had stopped by the house twice, with no answer at the door. A cop who went to the house noted “patient refused any help.”
It wasn’t until Dec. 14, when there was a problem with the heat at the 2 1⁄2story brick home, that a relative of the sisters stop by, and found Wheaton’s body in a state of “significant decomposition” on the kitchen floor, according to Norfolk District Attorney spokesman David Traub.
Investigators believe the body had been there since the summer of 2015, Traub said.
And though the cause and manner of death have not yet been determined, Traub said there were no signs of foul play and Waldman, 74, has not been charged.
“This house has been reported before, it was obvious to every neighbor on the street, and the town did nothing about it,” said Harriet Allen, a neighbor and longtime friend of the women, who added, “someone dropped the ball” when she told cops last summer that the town’s health department needed to step in.
The Brookline Health Department did not return multiple calls for comment yesterday.