Man, mother found dead after a week

A policeman stands guard outside an Enoggera home where the bodies of a man and his mother have been found.

A policeman stands guard outside an Enoggera home where the bodies of a man and his mother have been found.

Police have found the bodies of a man and his mother in an Enoggera home, with fears the bodies may have been there up to nine days.

The man acted as a carer for his mother, who suffered from dementia and struggled to speak.

It is understood he may have died of natural causes, leaving her unable to summon help.  

The Enoggera home where a man and his mother have been found dead.

The Enoggera home where a man and his mother have been found dead. Photo: Marissa Calligeros

A police spokesman said they were investigating and would prepare a report for the coroner after the location of the bodies yesterday afternoon.

“The believed 83-year-old woman and 51-year-old man were located by police at a Lone Pine Street address shortly before 4pm,” the spokesman said in statement.

“Initial investigations suggest the deaths are non-suspicious.”


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Neighbours said they hadn’t seen the pair for nine days and police are trying to verify if anyone had more recent contact.

The pair’s immediate neighbour Gloria Peters said the woman and her son largely kept to themselves.

‘‘She was a very old, nice lady … the poor soul,’’ she said.

‘‘He was not very sociable. He only spoke to me on one occasion really, soon after they moved in. After that I never saw him answer the front door, or speak to any of the other neighbours.’’

Ms Peters said the elderly woman would often walk around the front lawn or the back garden.

‘‘She would see me in the garden and make a noise,’’ she said.

‘‘But when I went to the fence she couldn’t really talk to me.’’

Ms Peters said one of the man’s sons occasionally visited the home, which the pair began renting about two years ago.

‘‘But I never saw any other visitors,’’ she said.

She and her other neighbours, many of whom are elderly pensioners, have been deeply shocked by the deaths.

‘‘I nearly collapsed I got such a shock when the police came to my door,’’ Ms Peters said.

At the home today, a four-wheel-drive could be seen parked in the driveway, and mail sat unopened in the letter box.

Several items, including a clothes line, chair and bucket were left sitting on the front porch.

The lawn appeared not to have been mowed for some time.

Another neighbour, who asked not to be named, said she recalled seeing the man about nine days ago.

None of the neighbours who spoke to brisbanetimes.com.au today knew the names of the woman and her son, as many had never met them.

Australian Medical Association Queensland president Richard Kidd said the tragedy spoke of failures in the health system and modern society.

‘‘It’s a system failure and possibly a community [failure],’’ Dr Kidd said.

‘‘If we go back a couple of decades the community was much stronger and there might have been a neighbour or someone who was checking on a number of people like that on a regular basis.’’

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