Mary Notarangelo lived a reclusive life in her later years, according to the few people who had contact with her.
A retired police detective enjoyed caring for her many birds at her home in Connecticut, often sharing videos of them on social media. One of these videos even showed her taking a trip to a local crafts store with a bird as her companion.
But a welfare check request to police last year uncovered disturbing truths.
Hoarding conditions were found in her house in Glastonbury, just southeast of Hartford, when authorities tried to find her last July.
It wasn’t until February that a work crew using a small excavator discovered her skeletal remains.
They were found beneath a pile of debris heaped just inside her front door, according to a police report released Wednesday.
Glastonbury police reported that the conditions in her single-family home, located off a rural road in the woods, were some of the worst they had encountered. These conditions made several search attempts over the months particularly challenging.
Officers said there were 6-foot-tall “mountains” of garbage blocking entrance doors.
Dead birds were found in cages along with mice running about and a live cat. And there was a terrible stench.
“Once inside, I saw more piles of garbage, cobwebs, and spiders,” Officer Anthony Longo described in the report. “There was no clear path. The only way to navigate from one room to another was by climbing over the trash.”
It’s not clear how Notarangelo died.
At 73, she was a retired Bridgeport police detective and longtime Wiccan, according to officials and friends.
Her death was first reported by Hearst Connecticut Media earlier Wednesday.
The state medical examiner’s office said her cause of death could not be determined because the remains were mostly skeletal.
A friend had called police to request the welfare check July 3, 2024.
He told investigators Notarangelo last texted him around June 12, 2024, saying she was having abdominal cramps, vomiting and had fallen. It’s not clear why the friend — who did not return phone and text messages — waited so long to call authorities.
It’s also not clear why it took seven months to find her remains, although several attempts had been made and officials cited the mounds of trash and other items.
A police spokesperson did not immediately return an email seeking comment about the timeline.
“It’s so upsetting and so sad,” said another friend, Patti Steeves, who worked with Notarangelo at the Bridgeport Police Department as a civilian employee years ago. “She, as quirky as she was, she was a good person at heart.”
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Steeves added: “She was passionate about her faith. She was passionate about her job. She had a great sense of humor. And she loved her animals. She loved her animals more than she did herself.”
Steeves said she tried to talk with Notarangelo about the hoarding, but Notarangelo wouldn’t discuss it.
She said Notarangelo was a “bird fanatic” who had about 20 birds, including cockatoos, cockatiels and parrots, and a cat and a dog.
Bridgeport police said Notarangelo worked there from 1985 to 1996.
She was promoted to detective in 1992 and to sergeant a year later.
Steeves said she retired on disability after an on-duty car crash that injured her back and legs.
Notarangelo posted occasionally on her social media accounts, saying she was an animal lover and an “intuitive & reiki master,” referring to the Japanese healing practice.
She posted videos and photos of her birds, including a cockatoo perched on a shopping cart during her outing to a crafts store.
Police and firefighters first searched the home on July 3, 2024, the day of the welfare check request but couldn’t find her, citing hoarding piles as a major factor.
They also sent a drone in the house, but it hit cobwebs and became disabled, police said.
More searches, they said, were conducted on July 5, July 11, July 12 and Nov. 20.
On Feb. 24, an environmental services crew arrived with a small excavator.
Plywood was removed from the front door area and crews used the excavator to carefully remove the contents of the home through the opening.
Notarangelo’s remains were discovered within minutes, police said.
An attorney was assigned to handle Notarangelo’s estate in March. He did not return phone and email messages Wednesday.
Relatives of Notarangelo, including her brother and niece, declined to comment.
