DELKALB MAN DIES AT HOME AND NOBODY NOTICED FOR OVER A YEAR UNTIL NOW

About a year ago, maybe two, police believe a DeKalb County man in his mid-forties died at home.

Nobody found him until Friday, when a homeless man who'd been coming by to scavenge as of late spotted the remains, according to police.

The homeless man told a neighbor, who suggested the man call police, but he didn't, so the neighbor called Monday. Authorities responded and saw the skeleton through a window of the home on Telstar Drive in the Ellenwood area.

It lay in bed.

Shiera Campbell, DeKalb police spokeswoman, said the county medical examiner's office is working to determine the cause of death for the man, whose identity hasn't been released.

But it may be a challenge.

"Right now, they don't even know how long he's been dead," Campbell said.

The going theory Monday was that he could've been dead two years.

Neighbors told Channel 2 Action News the man's two sisters moved him in about four years ago. Their parents had owned the home but died years ago.

Neighbors told police they couldn't recall seeing the man in the past two years. They said he was "sick," though it wasn't clear what was wrong.

He used to step outside every once in a while.Sometimes, his sisters would come check on him.

Last year, a tree fell on the house. A neighbor called the sisters to report the damage but the neighbor doesn't think they ever came to the house after that, Campbell said.

The reason the sisters haven't been around wasn't immediately clear Tuesday night.

Police are treating the death as suspicious, as they typically do with skeletal remains, though police haven't given any indication they suspect it was a homicide.