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HAMPTON BAYS, LI---His house on the eastern end of Long Island set back from the road in the woods, out of sight of neighbors and passersby.
He lived alone, widowed years ago, suffering from diabetes and was blind.
Nobody had heard from him in over a year although supposedly he had caregivers.
When Southhampton police responded to the two story home earlier this week to answer a report about burst water pipes, they found the mummified body of 70-year-old Vincenzo Riccardi, 70, sitting in a chair in front of his television, dead for more than a year, the television still playing.
According to the Suffolk County medical examiner's office, Riccardi appears to have died of natural causes. It was reported that his body was well-preserved, his features and hair intact due to the dry air in the house.
Riccardi had often been seen walking with his cane but apparently no one had missed him for over a year and no one had checked on him.
One neighbor who had helped Riccardo with paying his bills and reading his mail to him, said that they had had a falling out because he demanded more of her time than she could give. She said she later saw an ambulance at his house and although she saw the mail piling up, she thought he was in a hospital or nursing home.
The electricity was still on in the home although apparently the power bills had not been paid in over a year. The last he was heard from was December 2005, according to authorities. 2-17-07
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© 2007 North
Country Gazette
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