Italian police have discovered the body of a 70-year-old woman sitting at the table in her home, almost two years after she died.
Marinella Beretta’s body was found last Friday at her home in Prestino near Lake Como north of Italy following complaints a tree had fallen in her garden as a result of overgrown vegetation, Como City Hall press officer Francesca Manfredi confirmed to CNN.
She had no relatives in life. The cause of her death is unknown but based on the level of decay, Marinella is believed to have died in late 2019. It is a case of loneliness and lack of care for the elderly in the world.
Neighbors who had not seen Beretta since September 2019, assumed she had been displaced by the pandemic, local media reported. Police who arrived at the scene said they had found no evidence of ‘suspicious play’.
“What happened to Marinella Beretta in Como, the forgotten loneliness, weighs on our consciences,” said Italian family minister Elena Bonetti. “We have a duty to remain united, to remember her life and to leave no one alone,” she added.
The city council will pay for her funeral.
