Police found the body of a retired New York music teacher in her Maine home on Friday. They believe she had been dead for as long as two and a half years, according to the Portland Press Herald.

Lucie McNulty, who would have been 69, was described as a loner, but when mail continued to pile up, concerned neighbors called Wells police, the Press Herald reported. Police conducted welfare checks on several occasions, the first taking place in July of 2013. They knocked on the door, but never received an answer. It wasn’t until this Friday that officers actually entered the home.


“We never had any legitimate reason to force our way into the house,’’ Wells Police Lt. Gerald Congdon said Wednesday to the Press Herald. “There was absolutely nothing to indicate anything was wrong. The power was still on.’’

Congdon said police felt they had enough cause to enter the house when they learned McNulty hadn’t paid her property taxes in at least two years, her mail was still being returned to senders, and her phone had been disconnected. Upon entering the home, police discovered her body in her bedroom, according to the Press Herald. The state medical examiner’s office ruled she died from a heart disease.

Read the full story at the Press Herald.