As the Houston Chronicle reports, Cerutti had purchased a house in West Heights in 2001, when over ten years later property developers began to encroach on the Houston neighborhood. She opposed the development, and at a planning commission meeting in 2013, she stated:
“Literally this project is going to be in my backyard. I’m surrounded. And I just don’t see the sense of this project. It seems like just too many apartments for such a small space.”
As condos and townhouses went up around her, the 61-year-old woman, who was believed to live alone, refused to vacate her 1,161 square foot home. Then in 2015, she disappeared.
Neighbors noticed a window was broken, her lawn was overgrown, and mail started piling up. Some neighbors thought perhaps she had died. They tried to initiate a missing persons report but were denied because they were not relatives or closely linked to her. One neighbor even resorted to hiring a private investigator.
There are still no answers in a bizarre Heights mystery that has the whole neighborhood talking.
Renters were moving into the bungalow at 610 Allston Saturday when they found human remains in an attic wall. They also found a pair of red eyeglasses similar to those worn by the previous owner, 61-year-old Mary Cerruti, the Houston Chronicle reported.
The father of one of the residents, who asked that his name not be used, told ABC 13 that the renters were moving boxes into the attic when one of them noticed a gap in the plywood and used a flashlight to look inside.
In the crawl space, beneath the attic floorboards and the sheetrock ceiling, was a “jumble” of bones. Along with the discovery was a tattered rag and a pair of $5 drug store glasses with red frames.
The renters say they’re not sure if they’re going to stay in the house.
A medical examiner is still working to identify the remains and determine if there was any foul play.
