Elderly siblings

There is a true story that happened last year in my father-in-law's neighborhood. This is quite rare and is not supposed to happen. I suppose there are some elderly that has dementia so bad that things got worse and even runs into the legal issue.

The siblings lived in the house behind my FIL's house. It is a very upper class neighborhood with old houses that are 100 years old...

Often I saw this lady who was not dressed up properly and had bad teeth and she was always on a walker. We saw her in the bank once. She was weird. But it was her right to be herself.

Somehow in some way, some nosy people went to her house and found out something chilly. Her older brother and sister were dead and were still in the house!! They were all in the 90s - maybe she is younger. God knows how long - quite some years!! Yes, years! The elder sister knew it too and then she died later also. The brother died first. Not sure they were all crazy or they had dementia of some sort... They were all singles. Left a car in the garage still.

Someone came to clean the house this year. Someone is working on the garden because the grass there is ok. Never saw the one that is responsible. The house is still pending - not for sale or anything yet.

The police went around the neighborhood and asked if anyone knew about them. They came to my FIL's house and scared the caregiver (she thought it was about us.) They asked my FIL about her. He forgot of course. He often talked to her in the back though. The police said the caregiver should have told them my FIL has dementia and they said sorry to ask him these questions.

The siblings were quite private. No one was nosy enough to care about it. I guess the community fails it.

The question is really, what are their rights? What is privacy? Where is the line? When it goes beyond these, the community needs to interfere. Maybe the soclal service needs to do homework about "missing" elders who need help.

Nina