Alabama Woman Lives With Dead Hubby for Weeks

Police had to break into house of elderly woman with Alzheimer's
By Neal Colgrass,  Newser Staff
Posted Mar 10, 2014 3:58 PM CDT
Alabama Woman Lives With Dead Hubby for Weeks
   (Shutterstock)

An elderly Alabama woman lived with her dead husband for about a month before police broke into her house and discovered the sad scene, NBC News reports. Doris Kirby, 78, has Alzheimer's disease and didn't realize that police were there to check on her, at the request of family members who hadn't heard from them in a while. Forcing their way in, officers found her husband, Jessie Kirby, 75, lying dead in bed, and two dead dogs who had apparently starved.

Neighbors in Decatur, Alabama, had known the couple for decades but apparently didn't check on them, WAFF reports. "Police cars was up and down the road," said Dean Hayes, who lives two doors down. "To think that all of us live right here, this close, and none of us knew anything about it." It also seemed to surprise the Kirbys' son, who drove up as an ambulance arrived and was told of his father's death. Authorities have ruled out foul play in Jessie Kirby's demise, AL.com reports, and say Doris Kirby is in poor health at Decatur Morgan Hospital. (More Alzheimer's disease stories.)

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