CBS Chicago

Police continue their investigation after a woman was found dead under a mound of trash in her southwest suburban Worth, where garbage was pouring out of the front door.

As CBS 2’s Susanna Song reports, police found Margareta Scheibe, 72, dead inside her home in the 10800 block of South Oak Park Avenue in Worth, where she reportedly lived with her 42-year-old son. It remains unclear how she died.

A friend contacted authorities after reporting that she had not seen Scheibe for over a month.

Neighbors were bothered by the heaps of trash all around the house, spilling outside in both the front and back. Two older-model cars parked in the driveway were also packed end-to-end with garbage.

“When we moved in here, the biggest concern was she had to have her fence, because she was so concerned about people taking her things, and you know, you can see how much stuff she has,” said a neighbor, John, who lives behind her house on the other side of the sagging chain-link fence.

It’s impossible not to notice the garbage everywhere in and around the house, from tattered blankets to broken lawn mowers and scummy plastic buckets. But John said there was something far more disturbing.

“There was a strange small coming, and it was all summer, and a lot of animals – cats, dogs, raccoons, possums – and it wasn’t good,” John said. “We knew something was wrong.”

John said he had a few run-ins with Scheibe.

“She was a hoarder; hoarded a lot of things,” Scheibe said. “She didn’t want any neighbors around at all. If you were in the backyard, she’d come and she’d be watching everything. She was really strange.”

Over the weekend, John saw first responders in white hazmat suits going in and out of Scheibe’s house. But it wasn’t until late Tuesday afternoon that Scheibe’s decomposed body was found inside under piles of trash.

Neighbors say Scheibe’s husband died about a year ago. They knew nothing about her son living with her here.

Click here for the full report from CBS Chicago

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