New York: More than a year after death, LI man found in front of his TV

The Boston Herald ^ | February 17, 2007

[Stoat]

More than a year after death, LI man found in front of his TV
By Associated Press
Saturday, February 17, 2007 - Updated: 12:04 PM EST

HAMPTON BAYS, N.Y. - A man’s body was found in his home more than a year after his death, with the television still on and his features preserved by dry conditions, officials said.     Vincenzo Ricardo, 70, apparently died of natural causes, said Dr. Stuart Dawson, Suffolk County’s deputy chief medical examiner. Southampton Town police found Ricardo’s body this week when they responded to a report of burst pipes.     Ricardo was found in a chair in front of the television set, as though he were watching it, Dawson said.     The home’s dry air had left his features intact, morgue assistant Jeff Bacchus said.     ”You could see his face. He still had hair on his head,” Bacchus said.     Ricardo’s wife died years ago, and he lived alone, Dawson said.     ”He hasn’t been heard from in over a year. That’s the part that baffles me,” he said. ”Nobody sounded the alarm.”     Neighbors said they had thought Ricardo was in a hospital or nursing home. Still, neighbor Diane Devon said residents at a gathering last month remarked that they hadn’t seen him in some time.     ”We never thought to check on him,” she said.

[theFIRMbss]

>A man’s body was found in his home more than a year after his death, with the television still on and his features preserved by dry conditions, officials said.

Aw, the poor old guy. He never got to see Lex and Lana hook up!

[baubau]

"He died doing what he loved.

Yep!

Watching the dummy box.

Sad story though.

[Sherman Logan]

According to Wikipedia:

"It is commonly claimed that hair and nails will continue growing for several days after death. This is a myth; the appearance of growth is actually caused by the retraction of skin as the surrounding tissue dehydrates, making nails and hair more prominent."

Sounds reasonable.

[4yearlurker]

I think maybe the TV switch was in the "on" position when they found him. Apparently the heat ran for a while (Gas or oil?)Till something ran out or was turned off,resulting in the cracked pipe.

[VOA]

thanks for the amplification on the (possible) growth of hair/nails
post-mortem...
given that death really should derange the energetics and
networking of metabolism for growth...
the Wikipedia explanation sounds like a reasonable explanation of
the appearance of post-mortem hair/nail "growth"

[mort56]

These are the same people who voted for Hillary and Schumer. It's not that they don't care. They have an abundance of caring. It's just that they are deaf, dumb and blind.

[isom35]

no mention of the channel he was watching?

[Sherman Logan]

Oddly enough, he was supposedly blind.

[SampleMan]

It is a stick with two ends. On the other end of it there are Big Brotherly neighbors from cuban Neighborhood Revolutionary Committees and their ilk. On balance, I'd much rather have neighbors like Diane Devon.

I'll take neighbors that give a rats behind whether I'm OK or not.

[Rastus]

I think we've found the one guy who's TV was tuned to Commander-in-Chief.

[GSlob]

Well, and I would not. Jedem das Seine.

[Chi-townChief]

I was thinking an old Zenith - those things just go and go; we still use daily our old 1986 Zenith 27" and, if it fails, I have an even older 25" Z ready to go.

[Stoat]

Thank you very much for the added information from the far-superior article than the one I posted here. I originally found the story at FoxNews, but knowing that FR required FoxNews articles to be heavily edited I looked further so that I could post the whole article for people's convenience. I hadn't run across the Newsday version, but I seem to recall that FR required Newsday to be heavily edited as well? It's hard to remember all of the sites that you can and can't post from!

Anyway, I appreciate the additional information that you provided. Apparently he did have a few aquaintances, but it sounds like he got to be a cranky person and didn't exactly provide a magnetic attraction for other people. It's a real shame.....and a situation that a religious affiliation would probably have prevented.

[Nik Naym]

"It probably WASN'T an RCA.You couldn't get one of their sets to run for a year if you threatened it with a gun."

Hmmm...things sure must have changed. I used to be in that business many years ago. Got out of the TV repair business a little over ten years ago. Our main TV is still the RCA I bought in 1987. And it still looks good too.

[radiohead]

It turned out that someone at SS had forged my signature on the form requesting direct deposit

Whoa! I wish I could be more elequent, but that's all I can manage. I'm stunned.

[radiohead]

I'm sorry, must be dense today. Was what as bad as quitting smoking?

[Old Professer]

De-practicing law.

[Fiddlstix]

BTTT

[radiohead]

haha. No, I was beginning to hate the clients. I love the thinking and analysis (a personality trait responsiblie for my going back for the PhD, I'm sure), but the people drove me nuts.

As it turns out, in my new job, I will be advising lawyers who want to be law librarians. There are many refugees from the bar, I'm sure.

[geopyg]

"".....neighbor Diane Devon said residents at a gathering last month remarked that they hadn’t seen him in some time.
”We never thought to check on him,” she said. "

Later on she made the comment, "Its just so hard to believe, he was such a quiet man." ;)