Body found 4 months after death

By Lu Chenyuan Source:Global Times Published: 2012-11-4 23:35:07

The body of an unemployed 51-year-old man was discovered nearly four months after he died in his apartment in Hongkou district, local media reported Sunday.

Although neighbors had complained about a foul odor in the building, no one discovered the body of Qian Zhonghong until Saturday, when his brothers visited his apartment, neighbors and a member of the residential complex's neighborhood committee told the Global Times.

Police have ruled out the possibility of murder and are continuing to investigate the cause of death, according to a report in the Shanghai Evening Post.

Qian's neighbors first reported a stink in the building at the end of August, according to a member of the Jiangwan Town Zhonglie Neighborhood Committee, who asked not to be identified. A neighborhood committee investigation led them to a sixth-floor resident who was using a pungent type of compost to fertilize his plants.

In September, neighbors again complained about a bad smell. This time, committee members searched the building only to find a dead mouse in one resident's kitchen, the committee member said. Complaints about the smell disappeared after the rodent was removed.

The supervisor of the building once knocked on Qian's door, but no one answered.

Qian, who never married, lived alone in the apartment. Neighbors said he was unsociable and had a poor relationship with his two older brothers.

The committee member said she last saw him in the middle of July.

Qian's brother only went to the apartment after failing to reach him on his mobile and home phones several times, according to the newspaper report. After no one answered the door Friday, Qian's brother decided to return the following day with their other brother. When no one answered the door again, the brothers called emergency services and a locksmith.

When Qian's body was discovered, it had decomposed to the point it was little more than a skeleton, the newspaper reported.

Neighbors said police removed the body from the apartment in pieces using plastic bags.

The Jiangwan Town Zhonglie Community has a program that checks in on residents, but it is limited to senior citizens over the age of 60, the committee member said.

 



Posted in: Society, Metro Shanghai

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