Natalie Wood : Woman lay dead in house for nearly eight years

Natalie Jean Wood was known to be the forgotten woman of Sydney after her dead body was found lying inside her home for eight long years. However, now that her million dollar estate is up for grabs, twelve long lost cousins have finally remembered to show up.

Detective Senior Constable Andrew Wills told the Glebe Coroners Court there was no mattress in the house, which is estimated to be worth almost Aus$1 million (US$890,000), no television and no fridge.

While no purse or wallet was found, rings and other valuables lay untouched.

Wills said Wood, who had lived in the house since she was born in 1924, was a recluse.

“She kept to herself,” he told the inquest. “It got to a point she answered the door with a special knock.”

Neighbours told police they thought she had moved away and the house was vacant.

Wood had no will and her sister-in-law Enid Davis and four distant cousins are making a claim on her estate.

A frail Davis, whose husband — Wood’s brother — died in 2009, told the coroner she last saw her from a bus window on January 30, 2004.

“There was no reason (we stopped talking) other than my husband had dementia and got very sick,” she said.

Agencies