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Mummified man likely died of natural causes
February 19, 2007, 10:11 PM EST
Confirmation that a Hampton Bays man had been dead for 13 months, seated in front of a TV set that was still on, came from dates on prescription medications and expiration dates on milk and egg cartons, police said Monday. Investigators expect by week's end to have an official cause of death for Vincenzo Riccardi, 70, whose mummified body was found in his secluded home Thursday after he had been dead for more than a year, police said. All evidence, including a lack of visible injuries, seems to point to a death by natural causes, so the investigation is all but over, pending autopsy results expected in the next few days, Southampton Police Det. Sgt. Randy Hintz said."We're looking at a time of death sometime in January [2006]," he said. The retired construction worker, a widower considered by neighbors to be a recluse, was discovered after police came to investigate burst pipes at the unheated home. The TV screen displayed only static as police entered the room, Hintz said. "Everything appeared natural. ... He was sitting there, in a stuffed chair, in front of the TV. The power was on to the TV, but the signal was disconnected." Riccardi lived alone, and because he was blind, he had presumably turned the set on just to listen to it, Hintz said. Still unclear to the police is why his electricity was still on. "We don't know how the bills were paid, whether it was direct debits or a family member was paying," Hintz said.
LIPA spokesman Michael Lowndes said the utility's privacy policy does not allow him to comment. "His account is confidential, as are all LIPA customer accounts," Lowndes said, although he added that he was unsure whether ratepayer privacy extends after death. Neighbors said they had tried to keep an eye on Riccardi, who had diabetes and had been blind for two decades, but because his house was up a long driveway and could not be seen from the street, they did not always know what he was doing. The neighbors had seen mail piling up, but assumed he had been hospitalized or placed in a nursing home.
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