Body of German woman missing for 40 years found by man renovating father's attic

Good grief, I imagine that this would be a very disturbing thing to find in your attic!

According to "The Independent", a news website:

A German man has made a startling discovery after finding the body of a woman in his father's attic - 40 years after she was reported missing. The 33-year-old man, who has not been named in reports, had been renovating the loft in his father's house in Cloppenburg, Lower Saxony when he unearthed the woman's skeleton, which was covered in leaves and straw. Police said they received a call about the "very unusual" discovery on 28 August and found the skeleton in a lying position wearing several jackets and a pair of trousers and shoes, the German newspaper Bild reports. Following a post-mortem and dental analysis of the skeleton, authorities believe the bones belong to a 28-year-old woman who disappeared in 1977, five kilometres from the house. According to authorities, the woman had disappeared before and had been declared missing for six weeks in 1976, before being found in a wood.

There is very little information, and the article concludes with:

The mother-of-three had a history of mental illness, police said. Her husband died in 2012. "A discovery of this type is a very unusual event," police spokesman Josef Schade told Bild. "We assume she lay down to sleep and froze to death in the attic," he added. The son believes he is the first person to have entered his father's attic for four decades, The Local reports. Police said they do not suspect another person to be involved in the woman's death.

REALLY? It does not appear to me that they searched for her with much enthusiasm... Did they use a bloodhound? Didn't even go in the attic for 40 years? Perhaps they weren't too worried about NOT finding her? I haven't done any additional research, but if anyone else has any further information I would be interested. I lived in Germany (Munich & Friedrichshaffen) for several years, and my impression of the people was that they are very thorough about everything they do, and generally speaking place a great deal of importance on the family.

SOUR CE

originally posted by: seattlerat
REALLY? It does not appear to me that they searched for her with much enthusiasm... Did they use a bloodhound? Didn't even go in the attic for 40 years? Perhaps they weren't too worried about NOT finding her? I haven't done any additional research, but if anyone else has any further information I would be interested. I lived in Germany (Munich & Friedrichshaffen) for several years, and my impression of the people was that they are very thorough about everything they do, and generally speaking place a great deal of importance on the family.

SOUR CE

From how it reads, the woman was from about 5k away, she wasn't someone from that house
so, she broke/entered perhaps into that house, laid down in the attic, and died.
mentally ill people do odd stuff like that.

As far as people not checking their attic..that doesn't seem that unusual. I wonder though if 40 years earlier, they had a week or two of really bad smell emanating from somewhere.

a reply to: seattlerat

What a grim thing to discover! The way she was dressed, it does seem likely she went there herself, perhaps to get out of the cold, and failed in that regard. the only thing I wonder is, how did no one notice the smell? Perhaps away for the critical time, or the attic was well insulated from the rest of the house?

The smell alone would have alerted them to something Being wrong ....wouldn't you think ?

See also: A Rose For Emily

a reply to: SaturnFX

Since they seem to be implying she died of cold ... maybe she died early-ish winter. And perhaps that same cold helped stave off decomposition that helped to preserve her and some of the smell during the more active phases of decomposition?

originally posted by: seattlerat
REALLY? It does not appear to me that they searched for her with much enthusiasm...

Yes, but what you think forty years on, and what happened at the time may be different things. Often people searches discover nothing, even those with hundreds of people, dogs and helicopters stomping all over the countryside.

Sadly people go missing every day. Some are found decades later, as in this situation. The photo shows a big house with a big attic space. No surprise that a dead person could be undiscovered for decades in some circumstances.

I guess her three kids - if they are alive - now get a closure which is right.

I have never been in my attic after purchasing my house.

originally posted by: OccamsRazor04
I have never been in my attic after purchasing my house.

Is that because all the dead bodies will freak you out?