(NewsNation) — A retired Connecticut detective was found dead in her home more than seven months after she was reported missing.
Mary Notarangelo, 73, was reported missing in July of 2024 after a friend requested a welfare check. The friend said he had last heard from Notarangelo in June, who said she had vomiting and abdominal cramps and had fallen.
Efforts to check on Notarangelo were slowed by the hoarding conditions of her home, which was described as filled with debris, along with dead birds in cages, live mice and a live cat.
Notarangelo worked for the Bridgeport Police Department until 1996. A Wiccan and Reiki practitioner, friends described Notarangelo as an animal lover who owned about 20 birds, a cat and a dog.
“It’s so upsetting and so sad,” said another friend, Patti Steeves, who worked with Notarangelo at the Bridgeport Police Department as a civilian employee years ago. “She, as quirky as she was, she was a good person at heart.”
Steeves added: “She was passionate about her faith. She was passionate about her job. She had a great sense of humor. And she loved her animals. She loved her animals more than she did herself.”
After initial efforts to search the home failed due to the mounds of debris, police attempted to use a drone to search the home but said it was disabled by cobwebs.
“Once inside, I observed more mountains of garbage, cobwebs, and spiders,” Officer Anthony Longo wrote in the report. “There was no path whatsoever. The only way to move from room to room was by climbing over the garbage.”
Notarangelo was found after an excavator and work crew were brought in. She was located under a pile of debris near the front door, which had 6 feet of trash at the entrance.
Her remains were in a skeletal condition when recovered, and the medical examiner’s office could not determine a cause of death.
It is unclear why it took so long for the police to locate Notarangelo’s remains.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.