A former live-in caretaker of a Pittsburgh-area mansion drank over $102,000 worth of old whiskey which he was supposed to be looking after. Unfortunately, the whiskey caused his death since it was too old and not safe for consumption.

John W. Saunders, aged 63, was initially charged with theft after he was caught with the stolen goods. However, he died on 21 July and the following week Westmoreland County Judge Rita Hathaway dismissed Tribune-Review.

Saunders was the caretaker for mansion owner Patricia Hill, who found nine cases of Old Farm Pure Rye produced by the West Overton Distilling Co. in the early 1900s, in the walls and stairwell of her Georgian mansion in Pittsburgh, US.

"I guess in the end all the news coverage has helped the business," Hill told the Tribune-Review. "It wasn't a total loss."

The mansion's owner had claimed she found nine 12-bottle cases of whiskey hidden in the century-old mansion built by industrialist J.P. Brennan after she bought it in 2012.

The whiskey was produced in the early 1900s and was appraised at more than $2,000 a bottle. Saunders was charged after the owner discovered 52 empty bottles on which police found DNA from Saunders' saliva.