Beverly Mitchell, 66, was found dead in her Connecticut home on Saturday after the first floor of her home collapsed under the weight of Mitchell’s hoarding.

Hoarder Beverly Mitchell Found Dead

After a postal carrier noticed that Mitchell had not picked up her mail in almost two weeks, the police arrived at Mitchell’s home in Cheshire, Conn., on Friday to perform a welfare check and found that the first floor had collapsed.

“We did a well being and we determined it wasn’t safe to continue searching and asked for assistance when we saw the first floor collapsed,” recounted Sgt. Kevin O’Donnell.

With the help of Connecticut Homeland, the fire department, Connecticut’s Department of Emergency Management and Homeland Security, Connecticut’s Department of Energy and Environmental Protect and state police and cadaver dogs, authorities were able to recover Mitchell’s body on Saturday.

According to local reports, Mitchell’s home was stuffed with debris, with some piles reaching all the way to the ceiling. A neighbor told the local NBC news that Mitchell rarely went outside and never threw anything out.

“She saved newspapers, she saved every piece of paper” said neighbor Mary Stopkoski.

The police concurred, calling Mitchell a “recluse” and claiming that they tried to get her help repeatedly.

“She was a recluse. We weren’t sure she was in the building. She has a history of leaving and not telling anyone,” said O’Donnell.

Mitchell does not appear to have any family or next of kin, and her home will reportedly be torn down. Though authorities suspect the death was accidental, caused by disrepair to the home, an autopsy will be performed to determine cause of death.

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