Police find decomposed bodies of twins in Tennessee home
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. - Police are investigating the discovery on Saturday of the decomposed bodies of 63-year-old twins in a Chattanooga home.
WRCB-TV reports that Chattanooga police officers were called to the home this past weekend to check on the residents' well-being. Police found the skeletal remains of Andrew and Anthony Johnson "sitting" in recliners in their living room.
How long the Johnsons had been dead is unknown, but officials believe the twins died in early 2011, based on the date stamp on a receipt found near unused cans of Coke found in the home. But Tim McFarland, a spokesman for the Chattanooga Police Department, told the Chattanooga Times Free Press that placing their death that year was "not really a fair assumption."
"Unless the medical examiner's office comes back and gives us a solid time frame, there's really no way to say," McFarland said.
Also among the unknowns was whether the twins died at the same time, the Times Free Press said.
According to neighbors, what is known is that a sister called Chattanooga police in August 2011 to check on her brothers. Upon inspection, officers found that the U.S. Postal Service had placed a "vacant" notice in their mailbox, which is common when mails piles up. The door wasn't beaten down and the yard smelled OK.
Absent any sign of a problem, the officers didn't break into the house back then. Because the twins lived a hermit lifestyle, their relatives thought then that they may have moved away in secret, police said in a prepared statement.
Investigators think they died in early 2011 based on the bodies' conditions. Police are still investigating, but officials said there were no obvious signs of trauma or foul play. Both men were diabetics, and a medical examiner will determine the cause of death.