“Hoarding Is Mental Illness”: Ex-Cop Found 7 Months After Being ‘Buried Alive’ In House Of Horrors

It was a tragic ending to a former police sergeant’s life. 

A 73-year old woman in the state of Connecticut in the U.S. was found lifeless in her home after having been reported missing for months.

Recently released police investigation photos and videos show squalid living conditions, as the woman suffered from hoarding disease. 

Police found the body of Mary Notarangelo 7 months after the first welfare check

Overgrown yard and boarded-up hoarder house where police discovered skeletal remains beneath trash inside.

Image credits: WTNH News8

According to the Associated Press,Mary Notarangelo was a retired police sergeant who lived in the town of Glastonbury, just southeast of Hartford. 

She had kept to herself, mostly.

When a friend didn’t hear from her for over a month, police made a welfare check, but could barely move around in the house because it was so covered in things, including trash and bird cages.

Police officer wearing gloves using a crowbar to enter a cluttered house during a skeletal remains investigation.

Image credits: Glastonbury Police Department

Police made several additional attempts to reach Notarangleo, each time failing. Her remains were finally found some seven months after the first welfare call.

A local media outlet from Connecticut, CT Insider, recently obtained the photos and videos of those initial police searches and what they show is jaw-dropping.

Moldy cardboard, used fast food cartons, and rat feces were amongst the items found

Police investigating skeletal remains found buried under trash in hoarder ex-cop's cluttered house of horrors.

Image credits: Glastonbury Police Department

It was July of 2024, when a friend of Notarangelo called local authorities for a welfare check.

The AP says Notarangelo’s friend received a text from her in mid June of 2024, saying “she was having abdominal cramps, vomiting and had fallen.” 

Several weeks later, on July 3rd, the friend contacted police to request a welfare check. 

That was the first time police attempted to enter the house.

Elderly woman with long blonde hair and red lipstick linked to police discovery of skeletal remains in hoarder ex-cop house of horrors.

Image credits: Glastonbury Police Department

In body cam video taken from that day, police are seen pushing down the door, and climbing over garbage piles that were six feet high.

Food and beverage cans, plastic bottles, molded cardboard, wilted fast food containers, rat feces, and more covered the floors, wall-to-wall. 

Video taken from inside the police hazmat suits shows utter squalor, with police describing a horrible odor.

And then there were the bird cages. Dozens of them, mostly empty, but some containing bird carcasses.

It was clear that the former inhabitant of the home suffered from a serious case of hoarding disease.

Hoarding is when you can’t get rid of things, and experts say it can be serious

Forensic investigators in protective suits uncover skeletal remains amid trash in a hoarder ex-cop house investigation.

Image credits: Glastonbury Police Department

Hoarding is a mental condition, experts say, that can vary in seriousness depending on the patient, and can result in extremely unsanitary living conditions.

According to the Mayo Clinic, hoarding disorder is the “ongoing difficulty (in) throwing away or parting with possessions because you believe that you need to save them.”

Cluttered hoarder house filled with trash and debris where police discovered skeletal remains of ex-cop.

Image credits: Glastonbury Police Department

The site explains that people suffering from hoarding disorder keep or gather large quantities of items that may have no value.

Hoarders often reside in “extremely cramped living conditions with only narrow pathways winding through stacks of clutter.”

Not even drones could get past the extreme refuse in Notarangelo’s home

Cluttered room filled with trash and debris, scene of police discovering skeletal remains in hoarder ex-cop’s house.

Image credits: Glastonbury Police Department

Police say those winding pathways were not present in Notarangelo’s home, and wondered aloud how she got around in her home.

Videos and records obtained by CT Insider through a Freedom of Information Request detail the multiple attempts to locate Mary Notarangelo.

After the initial July 3rd, 2024, search, police returned to the premises again on July 5th, 11th, 12th, and November 20th, 2024.

Police officer in protective gear investigates skeletal remains amid hoarder's trash-filled house of horrors.

Image credits: Glastonbury Police Department

Each time, hoarding issues were cited as inhibiting the investigation and search.

During at least one of those visits, the AP reports, drones were used inside the house in an attempt to reach spots that workers could not.

But due to heavy cobwebbing and dust, along with precarious piles of refuse, the drones were not successful in locating her, either.

Finally, according to reports, in February of this year, an environmental team used an excavator to carefully remove the debris.

Police say her skeletal remains were found shortly thereafter.

“She loved her animals”: Friends remember Notarangelo

The AP reports that attempts to contact Notarangelo’s brother and niece were unsuccessful, as were attempts to reach her lawyer.

But another friend and former colleague, Patti Steeves, told the outlet that Notarangelo was quirky, but a good person at heart.

Steeves said Notarangelo loved her job, and her faith, Wicca, a pre-Christian nature-based religion.

Image credits: Glastonbury Police Department

“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,” AP quoted Steeves as saying.

The AP reports that Notarangelo worked for the Bridgeport police from 1985 to 1996, having been promoted to detective in 1992 and to sergeant a year later.

“She retired on disability after an on-duty car crash that injured her back and legs,” the AP reports Steeves as saying.

Netizens express surprise over seeing the house of a person with hoarding disease

Comment by Julie McCown expressing sadness about someone literally buried alive in a discussion about skeletal remains found in a hoarder's house.

Comment expressing shock about a disabled hoarder ex-cop found after 8 months in a trash-filled house of horrors.

Comment by Steven Shaw about hoarding as mental illness with text and reaction icons on social media post.

Comment from user Johnson Tosca reacting to discovery of skeletal remains in hoarder ex-cop’s house, expressing shock.

Comment on social media discussing a hoarder ex-cop who had no family and was not monitored by the association.

Comment by Sue Cocco expressing sadness over no one checking on the hoarder ex-cop found with skeletal remains.

Facebook comment by James Sokola saying Maybe the family should have done a wellness check last year regarding police hoarder ex-cop case.

Comment expressing disappointment in officers for not searching the hoarder ex-cop’s house where skeletal remains were found.

Screenshot of a social media comment expressing shock and sadness about skeletal remains found in a hoarder ex-cop's house.

Comment questioning why a friend did not call the police for weeks regarding hoarder ex-cop case.

Comment discussing a missing woman whose house was covered in garbage, related to police discovery of skeletal remains.

Comment expressing heartbreak over skeletal remains of hoarder ex-cop found buried under trash in her house.

Comment by Kim Billman questioning the discovery of skeletal remains under trash in a hoarder ex-cop’s house.

Comment by Leslie Stevenson questioning the seven months taken to check the hoarder ex-cop's house of horrors.

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