Hartford police are investigating the death of a woman whose body was found inside a home on Goodrich Street Friday afternoon.
Sources tell NBC Connecticut the woman has been dead since May and is believed to have died of natural causes. However, someone discovered her and her deceased dog after gaining entry into the home around 1:15 pm Friday.
"We've been telling the cops for months that we haven't seen her. She has a dog. Someone needed to do something and they never did," said Don Migliore, a neighbor.
Neighbors and the postman first reported her death in May, but police say there was a discrepancy in the officers' reports and the body was never found or removed. An internal investigation is now underway to figure out what went wrong.
"I definitely think there needs to be some explaining. A lot of explaining, in fact for the lack of followup on the smell and what happened to the woman," said Victoria Hall, of Hartford.
Today, Mayor Seggarra released the following statement into the investigation:
“While all the details are not yet known, I am deeply saddened by this case of a woman’s body being found in her home after neighbors say they hadn’t seen her in weeks and had called police. We are a caring city and even the perception of an inappropriate response cannot be tolerated. I am ordering Police, Fire, and Emergency Services to review all information and report back to me directly with any and all findings. Each and every day our public safety personnel place themselves in harms-way for the protection of the community so I rely on the integrity of these services to provide me with complete information. If something has gone wrong, I want to get to the bottom of it and take appropriate action. If it is determined that this case was mishandled, there will be consequences.” - Mayor Pedro E. Segarra
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Police have not released the woman's identity.
