A woman who lived alongside her brother’s decomposing corpse for up to five years was once a career-driven retail boss who had a strict religious upbringing.
Daily Mail Australia can reveal exclusive details about the life of the elderly woman at the centre of the Victorian ‘house of horrors’ that has shocked Australia this week.
The horrific secret was exposed on Monday as vision emerged of the woman, known only as Marie, being arrested outside the rat-infested and rubbish-strewn public housing property at Newtown, in Geelong, south-west of Melbourne.
Police made the grisly discovery of her dead brother Robert’s body in late December 2022 after attending the home on an unrelated matter.
Cops broke a glass door panel to gain entry before officers in biohazard suits were forced to wade through floor-to-ceiling rubbish, rats, dead possums and human faeces to reach the skeletal remains of Robert, who had not been seen since 2017.
The home was so crammed with hoarded items, Marie had been sleeping in a small ‘nest’ of bedclothes among the rubbish.
Now, a neighbour who took pity on Marie and welcomed the elderly woman into her home has given Daily Mail Australia an exclusive glimpse into her background.
Belinda Holt said Marie, who is now aged about 74, became homeless after police fenced of her public housing unit and ended up sleeping in a park.
Daily Mail Australia can reveal exclusive details about the life of the elderly woman, known only as Marie (pictured) at the centre of the Victorian ‘house of horrors’ that has shocked Australia
In late December 2022, police in biohazard suits were forced to wade through floor-to-ceiling rubbish, rats, dead possums and human faeces to reach the skeletal remains of Marie’s brother Robert, who had not been seen since 2017
Ms Holt took Marie in just before New Year’s Eve of 2022, saying she took delight ‘in watching the fireworks on my big screen TV’ and revealed some of her life story.
She said Marie and her brother Robert came from an Italian-Australian family which had emigrated in the 1920s and settled in Geelong, bringing the siblings up in a strict Roman Catholic home.
Ms Holt said Marie recalled wearing ‘a pretty dress’ to attend social dances as a teenager, but she never married or had children.
Instead, she concentrated on her career and got a job with retailer Myer, working her way up to a role as an administrator.
Devastated by the death of her grandparents, Marie began to suffer from obsessive compulsive disorder and other mental health problems and both she and Robert moved in to the public housing dwelling in Russell Street, Newtown.
After leaving her job, Marie continued to do work for people in her suburb and cleaning up streets in the neighbourhood.
Ms Holt said Marie told her: ‘It’s a working planet, that’s what you do.’
Robert’s remains – still wearing a beanie – were found inside the house (above) among floor-to-ceiling rubbish, rats, dead possums and human faeces
‘Marie’ was known as a hoarder, who filled her house with garbage. She was arrested on December 29, 2022 on an unrelated matter
‘She cleaned up people’s bins and cleared out the gum nuts from people’s gutters and would earn a little money for doing so, $20 here and there,’ Ms Holt said.
‘I met (Robert) a few times. He was a hermit. They were both traumatised people.’
The siblings had lived in the home without a telephone and, for some part of the time, without electricity.
Ms Holt said Marie was ‘very fit’ for her age but suffered from ‘detachment disorder’ – which meant that she could coexist with her dead brother’s body in the house.
However, Marie rejected suggestions Marie as ‘sleeping next to his corpse’.
‘That’s rubbish,’ she said, adding that she had seen the ‘nest’ of bedclothes which formed Marie’s bed.
Inside the ‘house of horrors’ which has now been cleared of the mountains of rubbish, rats and dead possums among which Marie slept in a ‘nest’ of bedclothes
Currently boarded up, the home was forensically cleaned and will be refurbished to house a new tenant in the future
After police arrested Marie on December 29, 2022 over an unrelated matter, they released her to Geelong Hospital, and she walked home to find she was unable to enter her house
After police arrested Marie on December 29, 2022 over an unrelated matter, they released her to Geelong Hospital, and she walked home to find she was unable to enter her house,
Ms Holt said police had badly handled what was a ‘mental health’ case and Marie had essentially been left on the street, until she took the elderly woman in, gave her clothing, and took her to Centrelink.
‘She had no Medicare card, wasn’t receiving an aged care pension. I pulled a few strings and agencies rehoused her pretty quickly, first in a motel. She’s in a new place now,’ Ms Holt said.
Ms Holt, who has been interviewed by the Victorian Coroner’s office about Robert’s death, said the home had been cleaned and was being refurbished to house a new tenant.
***
Read more at DailyMail.co.uk