The decomposing bodies of two men found inside a dilapidated terrace on a busy inner Sydney street could have gone undiscovered by their roommate for several weeks, police have said.
On Thursday afternoon, Eleanor Barker, 63, made a welfare concern call to police about one of her tenants. She has owned and lived at the Cleveland Street property in Surry Hills since the 1980s, and rented it out to the two men for at least a decade.
Officers arrived at the property at about 2pm on Thursday and located the body of a man inside the house, police said. A crime scene was established, and a short time later, a second body was found in a separate room.
Both men, aged in their 70s and 80s, were believed to have died in the house at different times within the past month, NSW police said, but how and when wasn’t known.
NSW police hoped autopsy results would progress the investigation. Detectives have spoken to Barker. Guardian Australia is not suggesting that she was involved in the men’s deaths.
Guardian Australia understands police don’t suspect any foul play and are unlikely to lay charges.
Police tape was wrapped over the fence on Friday afternoon. Behind it, faded tinsel drooped over the front door. Clutter filled the yard: an upturned bicycle, a walker, a succulent sprawling out of an upturned watering can.
The residents of the terrace, who had intellectual disabilities but lived independently, were well known in the neighbourhood.
Neighbours often saw Barker riding her motorised scooter up and down the street and drinking beers at the nearby Crown hotel.
The two men spent less time out of the house but were known to sit on the porch and drink longneck Victoria Bitters in the sun.
While neighbours on both sides of the property had seen Barker in recent days, they hadn’t seen either of the men for at least three weeks.
Neighbours said the house had been slowly descending into disrepair in recent years.
One neighbour, who wished to remain anonymous, has lived on the street for about six years and got to know Barker via her “firing her buggy down the street every morning”.
He was out on the street yesterday afternoon when the police arrived.
“I was just out doing my hard rubbish and suddenly there’s four ambulances, 10 cop cars, forensics all overnight, it was pretty full on,” he said.
He estimated it had been three weeks since he had seen the men, but he said he saw Barker most days.
“The older guy would hang out on the front step and drink beers,” he said.
Neighbours, who had been inside the house, said the rooms were filled with clothes, piles of furniture, rats and mould.
Across the road, neighbours, whose windows back on to the property, said they had never seen the tenants in the garden. They thought the house was abandoned.
Mitchell Morri lives a few doors down and often used to come across the elderly men on the street or on their porch.
“It’s quite a sad situation due to the living arrangements there, and the fact it seems that they’ve passed away in the house,” he said.
“They were both really nice. I’ve only met [Barker] once, but it seemed like everyone knew her. She was quite friendly.”
Another neighbour, who wished to remain anonymous, said one of the men was non-verbal, but he often communicated with the other male and Barker.
“I saw him three weeks ago, walking down the street,” he said. “He was quite slow – he didn’t look well.
“The house has been deteriorating badly lately, and we’ve had a few issues in the past six months – rats were climbing into our attic from their house, which is falling apart.
“I woke up in the middle of the night last night because you could hear police inside next door. It was actually really horrible; it gave me anxiety.
“It’s such an awful way to die. All alone.”
