Police in Madrid, Spain were led to the shocking discovery of a dead, elderly woman, The New York Daily News reports.
Authorities were called to a building after neighbors complained of a smell that was coming from an apartment. While investigating the odor, authorities found 79-year-old Clara Inés Tobón’s decomposing body in her apartment filled with trash and animal feces. Five of her seven cats were also found dead inside and police believe that some of the pets ate their owner’s flesh before dying from starvation.
Tobón’s apartment door had been locked, forcing firefighters to use a window to get inside. When an officer from Spain’s National Police entered the home, he described the scene as “the worst thing” he’s seen.
Tobón’s cause of death has not been determined, but her neighbors believe that she was infected with COVID-19 because she had been sick. They also think that she was a hoarder who suffered from Diogenes syndrome, which is characterized by domestic squalor and extreme self-neglect. She was often seen feeding stray cats or collecting food from trash cans around the city.
Tobón was reprotedly from Colombia and lived in the apartment since 1996.
