On Tuesday, the Harris County Coroner’s Office identified the remains of 61-year-old Mary Stewart Cerruti (pictured), who went missing in May 2015
The case of a Texas woman who vanished in May 2015 has been solved after the remains were found in the walls of her home by the new ones.
On Tuesday, the Harris County Coroner’s Office identified the remains of 61-year-old Mary Stewart Cerruti after they were discovered more than a year from when the home went into foreclosure.
The bones, recovered in March 2017 by new homeowners, were fragmented but the majority of the skeleton was recovered, including the skull, the medical examiner said in press release obtained on Wednesday.
Also found were degraded clothing, athletic shoes, and a pair of eyeglasses.
Authorities now believe it is likely Cerruti fell through her attic floor and became wedged in the walls.
‘In the attic, there was a broken board that led down to the space. Law enforcement thinks she may have been up in the attic and fell through the attic floor,’ Tricia Bentley, spokesperson for the medical examiner, told PEOPLE.
‘It is a one story home with an attic so she was found on the first floor. There was some space between the walls where a person could fit.
‘The cause of death is listed as undetermined because the remains were skeletonized. There is no evidence to say how exactly she died.’
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The remains were discovered in the walls of her home in Houston (pictured) by the new owners more than a year from when the house went into foreclosure
The bones, recovered in March 2017 by new homeowners, were fragmented but the majority of the skeleton was recovered, including the skull (pictured)
Also found were degraded clothing, athletic shoes (pictured), and a pair of eyeglasses
Video footage of Cerruti attending a February 2013 meeting showed her wearing a similar style of eyeglasses that matched the ones found with the skeleton (pictured)
In summer 2015, the elderly woman’s neighbors became concerned after they noticed the mail piled up in front of her house that had a broken window (Pictured, the skull)
Some people thought she was a target because she was older and lived alone. But the neighborhood had watched after her
Police found no signs of trauma or foul play in what bones remained, although a great deal of evidence was victim to decay and animals.
Before she vanished, Cerruti was in opposition to new housing developments in the neighborhood, even attending Houston Planning Commission meetings during which she called the developers ‘the bad guys.’
Video footage of Cerruti attending a February 2013 meeting showed her wearing a similar style of eyeglasses that matched the ones found with the skeleton.
In summer 2015, the elderly woman’s neighbors became concerned after they noticed the mail piled up in front of her house that had a broken window, reported by The Houston Chronicle.
Experts determined that what remained of the skeleton was consistent with the profile of an older, smaller, white woman, such as Cerruti
A jumble of bones (pictured) was seen in among the wood chips and debris in the attic ‘I found a human skeleton,’ the man had said when he called to report it
Little ISs known about Cerruti’s life. She was married at least twice. Her parents had died when she was young. Experts believe the tattered red fabric (above) may have been her clothing
Authorities now believe it is likely that Cerruti fell through her attic floor and became wedged in the walls (Pictured, where the body was found)
It is a one story home with an attic so she was found on the first floor. There was some space between the walls where a person could fit,’ Tricia Bentley, spokesperson for the medical examiner (Pictured, attic door)
The paper also reported that six dead cats were inside. Cages were found in the attic, hints of how Cerruti had taken care of stray cats. She’d taken photos of them when she’d been alive, giving them names like Slim, Sweetie and Little Spot.
‘The gap in the boards appears to be maybe eight inches, and Mary was certainly very frail, but it’s hard for me to believe that a person could step on a board, and their entire body would go down a crack that is two inches wider than a dollar bill,’ Cerruti’s neighbor, Roxanne Davis, told local news outlet KHOU.
Adding: ‘There were a couple hundred pairs of eyes on her house at all times, and anybody could look down and see that she was alone, she was elderly, she was frail and she was vulnerable, flat-out vulnerable.’
The paper also reported that six dead cats were inside. Cages were found in the attic, hints of how Cerruti had taken care of stray cats (pictured). She’d taken photos of them when she’d been alive, giving them names like Slim, Sweetie and Little Spot
Police found no signs of trauma or foul play in what bones remained, although a great deal of evidence was victim to decay and animals (Pictured, where the skeleton was found)