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The Roomate dies

 

March 12th, 2014

   Mike and I lived together in a flat and we decided to get a roommate, sounded like a good idea at the time, we had an extra room. So we placed an ad on craigslist. Annie sent a great letter and was really nice. She had a boyfriend that she would be with for a couple times a week. She said, and she is a quit person.

Annie, was nice and she seemed to have everything under control. She told Mike and I she doesn’t like to be disturbed. She was someone who loved to spend a lot of time alone in her room, we both loved the idea.

At first she had roommate dinners, had her boyfriend over even. Then she started staying in her room more and more. Till she never came out.

Oftentimes, Mike would to go to the store in the neighborhood to get her packs of beer.  He drinks beer, so this wasn’t a big deal to him. She informed us she had back pain that the condition has worsened, and her doctor had cut back on the drugs she was given to relief the pain she experienced.

 

   In December 2012, on Christmas day, she ran out of the house in the snow with no shoes on, took a cab to the store, and bought herself 26 cans of PBR. She returned, locked herself in her room and proceeded to apparently drink in order to relive the pain. At the time we didn’t know that was all she was doing.

 

  Mike and I came home one day and noticed the bathroom was all brown and dirty. We realized she had defecated in the bathroom and rolled in the fasces, didn’t shower or clean it up. But went back to her room, and slept. When we got home, I went up to the bathroom and outloud said “What the F!@# happened? Speaking to no-one except myself, very faintly I hear her in her room say. Oh that was me, Sorry. Ill clean it up.

I wasn’t going to leave it like that, I have two small dogs. So I, in shock mind you, began to clean it up.  In the meantime, Mike was on the phone with some friends, he informed them about what had happened, and how I was cleaning the bathroom because it was obvious she can’t really clean anything. He was telling them about another odd issue with the roommate.

I went to work and began to talk to my clients about what has been happening, They gave me the same advise. “go in there and get her up.” I wanted to do that, but several things went through my head. Should I do that? CAN I do that? I mean legally can I just go into someone’s room? What will happen if I do? Will I be sued? Will she freak out? Will I freak out? What happens if she is really sick? Who will I call? But the biggest thing was what are my rights and hers. Remember I have been under investigation for things I didn’t do, and this would be something I did do… invasion of privacy. So I stayed out of her room.

 

   About two weeks later, she started complaining that she couldn’t see properly and was unable come out of her bedroom, the house was smelling like she was using the bathroom in her bedroom. At this point we have not visually seen her for weeks, and it didn’t appear she had come out of her room. I confronted her about this, via text. She said “that’s weird” Ill clean it up this weekend. Then asked mike for a pitcher and some garbage bags. Mike thinks the pitcher was so she could us it as a bathroom, So we never did give it to her, we did bring her the garbage bags. Well mike did. When he opened the room to give her the bag and the Tylenol pm, she asked him to open the bottle for her, she couldn’t. She handed the bottle back to him, and he saw that her nails where still brown with feces from two weeks ago. She cant see? Its because she prolly has a sty infection. Im now concerned. But I really don’t know what to do.

 

   She then contacted me, Of which she never really talked to me except to say she was going to get help, some physical therapy etc. But this time she asked me to get her some beer.  I told her we are not going to buy her beer or anything unless she started taking care of herself. I told her to go take a shower, get up and get out of the house and do something. She knew I was serious. She promised she was going to change and start physical therapy to get her life back on track. But she begged me for beer this one last time. She said it’s the only thing that lets her sleep, and the pain is so bad she can hardly stand it. So I agreed, I was angry of course, but I also didn’t want her to suffer.  All these happened on a Saturday.

The following Monday, she sent me a text asking if I was coming home, I figured she was texting me cause she wanted beer, and I was not going to continue to contribute to whatever this she was doing to herself. I said no.

On Tuesday, the smell in the house was getting worse. On Wednesday morning, one of my clients that work with the state finally got back to me with a phone number to contact for help.


   Social services, crisis line. I had no idea organizations like this even existed. I contacted them that morning, told them everything about her, What had been happening, how she wasn’t leaving her room. The bathroom instance, everything. They told me they could send out two councilors and two officers just in case she gets angry. They also told me she might refuse to leave.

All the while, the house smelled like one of those Port Potty’s. The smell of urine and faeces took over the place. I got angrier and furious as the moments passed. Mike told me he can’t smell a thing and he doesn’t realize how bad the situation had become.

Wednesday, after work mike and I go to dinner, we are prepared to make the call this evening! But first we need to get up the courage, I mean, we are about to possibly embarrass this woman horribly. Then she will be gone in recovery. Etc. Mike asked me if we really needed to do it that night. I said YES! I don’t want to feel like I didn’t do my best to help her. Tonight we are calling for help.

 

   At midnight on Wednesday, the councilors and officers showed up. We again had to tell them what we had been going through. They gloved up, knocked on the door. They called out her name, and she didn’t answer which was odd at the time, cause she always answered when we talked to her through the door. So they opened the door, she was naked on the bed, facing the wall, again that was odd at first glance cause she was always cold. The officer immediately said call 911, then moments after said, no call the morgue.

I was terribly shocked and couldn’t believe this had happened in my house. Meanwhile , Mike, immediately said “what shes dead?”   I was in shock, I went numb actually laughing at the situation. In complete disbelief. I felt fine, although I didn’t want to see them take her body out, so I stayed in the bathroom till it was over.

 

    They informed us that it looked like she died on Monday (three days earlier) the text she had sent me was prolly to make sure I was not coming home. She knew she was dying. She flipped the covers off, cause she was overheating, all her vital organs where shutting down. She knew what was happening.

 

    We tried to contact her boyfriend, he ignored all the calls we made. Even blocked us.

 

    The next day, when I woke up, it hit me like a huge dark blanket. I couldn’t move, barely breath, no reactions. I just sat on a curb for 3 hours and thought about nothing, just empty. I forced my self to walk back inside. Then it all hit me! It had to be my fault. She had no one! I began to cry.. So much, so hard, I drank a bottle of wine and spend the rest of the day in so much pain and sorrow. I was sick I was angry, I was confused. She was a lone! I did nothing! She had no-one! I was the only person she had been in contact with! I let her down! this woman had no family, and we don’t know anything about her.

 

    All her belongings were still in her room where she had died. What where we going to do?

The next morning, when I woke up. Huge headache. I really don’t drink so I was not doing so well. Her mother called. I picked it up and began to sob! She has a mom! OMG what a relief!

 

    Her mom told me she couldn’t come out to Oregon for a couple weeks, we told her we had her debit card and there was a considerable amount of money on it, we also had her pin. She should use it for the funeral. And we would clean up the mess. I didn’t think a mother should remember her daughter like this. So mike and I cleaned the room, and rented a truck and tossed everything that was destroyed, cleaned the carpet and put everything of value into her truck. Then one day the truck was picked up by her family. Her mother had told us she had a history of doing this, and it was not our fault, as a matter of fact she said we where angels for doing what we did for the family. I still carried guilt. I was pretty angry I never went in there before that Monday. I was angry that my business life had scared me so much that I actually felt like I would be breaking the law to just open the door to her room. This happened two weeks before I had court with the employee situation.

In the process of cleaning her room we found a bunch of term papers from her class, I decided to gather them up and contact the college just in case they needed them. They where sooooo greatful, they said they didn’t know what had happened to her, that she just disappeared and that they had been scrambling to finish out the term with out the papers. I assume this was the deal breaker of someone passing or having to retake her class.

 

March 14th-flatmate found dead in bedroom, coroner came and took her body.

March 15th-Devistating confusing day.

March 17-25th-cleaned up flatmates room.

April 8th was court for the employees



 

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