Just some thoughts...
If he never left the house at all...let's say he went up to the attic to do something and had an aneurysm, heart attack, etc. I think the smell would be horrendous in the house after a while. And, why would the car be back at the train station.
I work in benefits administration. More than three days off work without reporting in is job abandonment and the employee would be fired. Not sure how that works in the union, don't handle that. Also not sure how long benefits would remain open if someone in the family let us know of a missing persons police report on that employee.
Then again, with no income from him, and IM not working much, they would probably qualify for Medicaid.