A 79-year-old Colombian woman has been found dead and reportedly "eaten from the waist up" after she lay undiscovered in her Madrid apartment with seven cats for around three months.
El Mundo reported the apartment, owned by the Madrid Social Housing Agency, began to stink after neighbours had already been concerned about the woman for weeks.
"Sometimes it smelled bad from the cats and the boxes of food that came up, but this time there was a very strong plague," a neighbour told El Mundo.
When police were called to the apartment on Monday, May 24, her home was filled with rubbish and cat faeces.
After discovering the body, one officer told a neighbour the woman had been "eaten from the waist up", El Mundo reported.
"A national police officer told us that it was the worst thing he had seen since he worked," the neighbour told El Mundo.
Metro reported the woman, named Clara Inés Tobón, had been ill for some time and tests are now being performed to determine if she died from COVID-19.
They also reported the woman may have suffered from Diogenes syndrome, which is characterised by self-neglect and compulsive hoarding.
Five of the seven cats had also died, of starvation, by the time they were found.
Their stomachs are being tested to confirm they ate parts of their owner, while the surviving two were taken to an Animal Protection Centre.
Tobón had no children and was not married.
