Last month, Ted Poetsch contacted the Star Tribune about his ordeal of being boarded in his own house in the Willard-Homewood neighborhood of north Minneapolis. The boards over his front and back doors obstructed his way on two occasions: on May 12, when he tried to get out, and on June 3, when he tried to get back in.

A Whistleblower reader pointed out that despite the city’s claim that this was unprecedented, as recently as 2005 a woman’s body was discovered in a house at 3216 Garfield Avenue South that had been boarded eight months earlier. As my colleague David Chanen reported on Aug. 22, 2005, the reclusive Darlene Pirtle was 79 and had cut off contact with the outside world.

It may never be clear whether the 79-year-old was alive or dead
when the city shut up the tiny house at 3216 Garfield Av., the
Hennepin County medical examiner said.

Pirtle’s death went unnoticed for so long partly because of her
own reclusiveness, but also because city inspectors aren’t required
to walk through buildings before boarding them up.

City officials talked about possibly changing that policy, but apparently chose not to. Chanen’s story concludes:

On July 21 (2005), a consultant hired by the county to inspect Pirtle’s house for mold and asbestos found her mummified body wedged between her bed and a dresser cluttered with beauty products, faded pictures and a tiny Christmas tree. Police continue to investigate her death, but no foul play was involved.

Determining when she died will be very difficult, said Dr. Andrew Baker, the county medical examiner. He said she had been dead for at least several months. “There is no guarantee we can say with certainty if she was alive when the house was boarded up,” he said.

If you want to see Jerry Holt’s video of the day Poetsch went back to 823 Penn Avenue North on the TV screen, instead of your computer, tune in to CNN “domestic” (not Headline News) at 12:45 today (that’s right, about 50 minutes from now) - sometime today. It’s been delayed by technical difficulties. Hope you saved it on Tivo, it aired at 12:49 CDT. Will link to it if and when it’s possible.

This entry was posted on Monday, June 8th, 2009 at 11:46 am and is filed under Civil liberties, Property problems. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.