A missing person’s case in Union City led to the discovery of a mummified body in a toilet at a South Bay home, but it wasn’t even the person police were looking for.
The mystery began to unravel about two months ago when a family member asked police to stop by a home to report on 95-year-old Nadine Parker.
It turned out that Parker had moved into a retirement home in Oakland two years ago, but officers made a gruesome discovery inside the home.
The house is tucked away on a quiet cul-de-sac on the east side of Union City. It would be easy to miss if there was no trash.
“The backyard and the front yard were filled with trash,” neighbor Bruce Chan said. “It was piled up to three meters high with rubbish. We always wondered about it because it always looked very creepy.”
But neighbors were shocked to hear a man’s mummified body was found in the house’s toilet. Sergeant Brandon Hayward of the Union City Police Department believes the remains may have been there for weeks, if not months.
He added that it is not unusual for police to find people dead in the bathroom. The body was not wrapped in cloth, but the remains began to dry due to the temperature in the closed bathroom.
Police said the house was generally in poor condition with rubbish everywhere.
They found another man alive but in poor condition with fungus growing from his ear. Neighbors said they regularly saw him walking on the street.
“We see him about three times a week,” Chan said. “Again, he has always been non-threatening, but I always wondered how he was cared for.”
“I saw the older man and the younger one,” added neighbor Ameneh Safarazdeh. “He goes walking to Safeway early in the morning. Every day.’
Police said the man they found alive is one of Nadine Parker’s two sons. In mid-August, Union City police issued a Silver Alert for Parker, who was suffering from Alzheimer’s disease. While she was found safe, Sgt. Hayward said the son suffers from some sort of mental illness.
They believe the body in the bathroom is his brother’s and that he died of natural causes.
The coroner’s office is still investigating the cause of death and attempting to match DNA to positively identify the body. Again, Union City police do not believe foul play was involved.
