10ofRods
Verified Anthropologist
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Except it seems the body was in poor condition indicating that it had been there for some time.
So, I wonder...Wouldn't there be pre-arrival communication? I can't think of a single time I visited someone without advance notice. Usually there's at least some back-and-forth prior to arrival. "We expect to be there around 5", "This is our flight number", "Is there anything you want from our area?" That sort of thing.
And if I did try to communicate with them and they were incommunicado, I don't think I'd wait until I'd arrived. I'd call an emergency contact, or failing that I'd request the police do a wellness check.
Edit - I suppose it's possible that this was meant as a surprise visit.
In some families, spontaneous holiday visits are a thing. And it was not so long ago (in my lifetime) that it was common. Not everyone has a cell phone (older people living in their longterm homes are less likely to have them). Not everyone has an answering machine (none of my elders did).
I went many times to my elderly aunts' and uncles' houses without notification because...deafness ran in the family and there was NO way that even a landline based call could get across to them. It's not exactly rare.
I never thought to call emergency people, partly because all of my elder relatives saying that they did not want such a thing - and my dad and his family, specifically, saying that they did NOT want an ambulance or a hospital or any medical care. They were pretty old (80's) when they said this - and, well, I have the same view. I do NOT want emergency services (unless ordered by my spouse). This is very common. Not everyone is alike.
Since so many of my relatives are relatively "incommunicado" I would be calling local emergency services (scant, already, where they live) every year.
At any rate, many of us "drop by" our relatives' houses near the holidays and don't think a thing of it, if they didn't pick up the phone in advance. My grandmother comes to mind - and she did have a daughter (my aunt) living nearby, but half the family was blocked on the phone by that aunt, so, well, there's that.
Many variables. IMO. Not all families are alike. And families with contemporary elder people may very well lack resources for getting help. I could drive to a relative's house faster than the police response would be for an unprovoked welfare check on me. It would happen eventually - but we don't know where the relatives lived. Sounds like at least a few hours away. For all we know, they drove from Riverside. 2 hours away. After not receiving communication. And no - I wouldn't call LE first in that instance.
You can ask others in SoCal for their responses - I could be really weird. But not for a minute do I believe an elderly woman over 4'10" tall "fell" into a chest freezer (purchased before current standards - so in the 1950's) that had a lid she couldn't open by simply sitting up.
If she had a heart attack at exactly the moment she somehow was propelling herself into a chest freezer, all bets off. I can reach the bottom of mine without taking my heels off the floor, but I suppose a woman of 5'0" might have to stretch (but fall in? there has to be a medical event/extremely frailty for that to happen, IMO).
IMO.