An elderly man found dead in an East Haven home this week had been dead for more than a year, according to police.
Police said the East Haven Memorial Funeral Home called them on Tuesday to report a strange phone call they had received.
The caller had asked about burials and cremations and the funeral home learned that he was actually asking about someone who died in April 2021.
When the funeral home advised the caller that the police should be contacted, the phone call ended quickly, according to police.
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Police said they started investigating to find where the call was made from and received a call an hour later from someone asking about how to get a coroner to a house.
Investigators responded to the home, on Elm Street in East Haven, and said it appeared to be unoccupied, but law enforcement went inside because of the possibility of a deceased person being inside.
In an upstairs bedroom, police found the body of an elderly man with advanced stages of decomposition, police said.
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The person who contacted authorities was the son of the man who was believed to have died in April 2021, according to police. They said it is not clear why the death was not reported earlier, but the son is fully cooperating with the investigation.
The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner will conduct an autopsy and police are investigating.
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