BROOKLYN — A woman lived with her mother's remains in a cluttered Borough Park apartment for a year until police discovered the grim scene Monday evening.
Officers responding to a 911 call at 4702 15th Ave., near 47th Street, at 5 p.m. Monday found Chava Rosenthal, 28, inside a trash-filled home, NYPD officials and sources said.
She told the police that she wanted to hurt herself and was taken to Maimonides Medical Center for evaluation, police said.
Officers left the apartment, but later returned after the woman's aunt called saying she was worried about her sister who also lived there but hadn't been heard from in a year, sources said.
After searching through piles of garbage for two hours, they found the skeleton of the occupant's mother, Susie Rosenthal, who sources said died a year ago.
The city's medical examiner will help identify the remains and determine the cause of death, but investigators don't suspect criminality, a spokesman said.
Building repairmen investigating a leak from the apartment called police when they saw it was stacked high with debris and had a putrid smell.
On Tuesday afternoon, pizza boxes could be seen stacked in the back window of the apartment.
Neighbors also described seeing and hearing strange and disturbing things coming from the apartment.
Amin Ashrafov, 21, who has lived in the building for seven years said he was horrified by a glimpse inside the apartment as police investigated.
He saw an empty room covered, three-feet high, with shredded newspaper.
"It was scary," he said. "I saw a pile of garbage. I freaked out."
And the stench was overpowering, Ashrafov said.
"I've never smelled something like that before," he said.
Malka Lerner, who lives on the fourth floor, said last week she heard someone screaming, "I kill myself. I kill myself."
