- Text
Empty Mass. house dials 911 for help
AP Photo, file
(CBS/AP) MARBLEHEAD, Mass. - After months of enduring a leaking pipe that buckled its floors and sagged its ceilings, an empty Massachusetts house somehow called police for help.
The Salem News reports the 911 call went out to police from a house in Marblehead on Wednesday after water short-circuited the phone system, apparently sparking the emergency call.
Officers were sent to the address after the call was recorded as a hang up and a return call got static.
Inside, they found the wreckage, including potentially toxic mold, from a pipe that apparently burst during the winter.
Town officials say the interior may have to be gutted.
Police couldn't immediately locate owner James Cowen. His cousin, William Cowen, said he's not worried. He says James was left financially secure by his father and often travels.
- Fla. girl, 18, charged over underage same-sex relationship
- Jodi Arias Lawyer: Defense won't call more witnesses
- Report: Dogs removed from kidnap suspect Castro's home
- Cops: Hosftra student was killed by officer's gunshot
- 3 teens charged with raping girl, 12, putting video on web
- Report: Boyfriend charged in murder of Conn. college coed
- Arias returns to court for penalty phase of trial
- Meeting Jodi Arias: First impressions never lie, or do they?
- Police: Ex-cop once hailed as hero charged with rape
- Cops: NYC man dead after "anti-gay" hate shooting
- Sources: Husband ordered cyanide before wife's death
- Colorado mob attacks man thought to be sexual predator
- Jodi Arias: A timeline of a sensational murder case
- Ariel Castro's lawyer says he'll plead not guilty
- Authorities search for missing URI student
- Creighton Univ. professor, wife, found slain in Omaha home
