Body of blind hoarder's son 'missing for 20 years' discovered in upstairs room of her home

A legally blind elderly mother may have been living with the skeletal remains of her son, who was reported as missing for 20 years before being found decaying in an upstairs bedroom, according to reports on Monday 26 September.

Rita Wolfensohn, from Brooklyn, New York, was living in a home that was so packed with belongings and smelt so badly that it is thought that the odour could have masked the smell.

Authorities in New York claim the shocking discovery was made on 15 September 2016, when a relative visited the the house in Midwood, Brooklyn, in order to pick up some of Wolfensohn's possessions whilst she was in hospital.

However, whilst searching an upstairs room her sister-in-law Josette Buchman found a "completely intact" skeleton, dressed in jeans, socks and a shirt, lying on its back on a thin mattress on the floor, said the New York Post.

Police believe that Wolfensohn thought he had simply left home without saying anything, around 20 years ago. New York Police Department (NYPD) sources told the newspaper that as the woman was blind, she may not have known he was up there.

The police source added that the scene could have been something out of the horror movie, Psycho, in which a son, Norman Bates, kept and spoke to his dead mother's remains. The source continued: "It was like some reverse 'Psycho' scene".

The body is yet to be formally identified, but police believe the man was Wolfensohn's son and that he died of natural causes. According to public records the woman had two sons, Michael and Louis.

Louis, who in 2016 would be 49 years old, has not been seen in 20 years whilst her other son, Michael, died 2003 at the age of 38, according to court documents. Wolfensohn's husband, Jesse, is said to have died in 1987.

Also, in June of this year, reports emerged that two New York teenagers were offered cheap rent in exchange for clearing out a US apartment only to find a decaying body and a note saying "sorry for the smell".