German Man Found Dead in Bed 7 Years Later

Have you ever lost something and found it in an unexpected place much later? Perhaps you misplaced a wallet, your keys, or your driver's license- but most times such things can be replaced. Not in this case.

The corpse of a deceased German man was discovered alone in bed Thursday afternoon, nearly seven years after the man supposedly passed away. Police in the German city of Essen said that the man was 59-years old when he died, inferring that the man passed sometime near the turn of the century. November 30, 2000 is the projected date-of-death for the man who was single and unemployed when he died. Police believe he died of natural causes.

The man received a letter from the Welfare Office the day he died. Next to his body, police found a pack of cigarettes, a television guide, and some Deutschemark coins (which have been out of circulation since Germany switched over to the Euro). The man apparently died in the possession of objects that are a must in any hip German bachelor pad.

The man's apartment was located in a building that shares space with numerous office buildings and other apartments. Although many of those apartments are now vacant, one would assume the smell of a several-year-old rotting corpse would have alerted a person or two over the years. Apparently not.

Certainly the most interesting part of this story lies in the fact that nobody noticed that their grandfather/ friend/ shuffleboard partner had been missing. "No one missed him. No missing person report was ever filed," said local police. Somewhere in western Germany, an individual has got to be kicking himself for forgetting about the existence of a loved one.

This incident is reminiscent of several other cases where a person was found dead a very long time after they actually passed. In February earlier this year, a New York man was found deceased in front of his television more than a year after he kicked the proverbial bucket. The television was, of course, still on (and no doubt awkwardly tuned in to something embarrassing, like the Oxygen Channel).

The Germans apparently have a penchant for ignoring their deceased. In December of 1999, a German man in the city of Bonn sat dead in his armchair for five years with his TV blaring and his Christmas tree lights on before someone discovered him. "Someone said once that he had gone off to a home, I didn't ask any more," said Monika Majarres, who lived in the same block of flats as the man.

Sources: www.reuters.com, www.topix.net, www. goofball.com