Decomposed body of man found after nearly seven years. No one missed him!

FYI:
German man found after 7 years dead in bed
Fri May 11, 2007 8:30AM EDT

Source:
[1] http://www.reuters.com/article/oddlyEnoughNews/idUSL1071991520070511

BERLIN (Reuters) - The decomposed corpse of a German man was found alone in his bed after nearly seven years, police in the western city of Essen said Thursday.

The police said in a statement the man was 59 and unemployed at the time of his death. He most likely died of natural causes on November 30, 2000, the date he received a letter from the Welfare Office found in the apartment, police said. [How did the police know that he died on exactly that day? – WHS]

Next to the dead man’s bed police found cigarettes, an open television guide and Deutschemark coins, which came out of circulation after the euro was introduced in 2002.

The man’s apartment was in a building with offices and apartments, many of which are now empty.

“No one missed him. No missing person report was ever filed,” the police said.

© Reuters 2007. All rights reserved.

Recalling that over the years I had a few times read stories like that, I got curious and checked for how often something like that is mentioned and as to the proportions of the sexes in meeting that sort of fate. Here are the search results:

google.com (web) for

1. [2] found decomposed corpse OR body woman - 469,000 entries on search-return list
   [3] found decomposed corpse OR body man - 782,000 entries on search-return list
2. [4] found decomposed corpse OR body woman “No missing person report was ever filed” - 263 entries on search-return list
   [5] found decomposed corpse OR body man “No missing person report was ever filed” - 581 entries on search-return list
3. [6] found decomposed corpse OR body woman “No one missed her” - 0 entries on search-return list
   [7] found decomposed corpse OR body man “No one missed him” - 527 entries on search-return list

news.google.com for

1. [8] found decomposed corpse OR body woman - 130 entries on search-return list
   [9] found decomposed corpse OR body man - 272 entries on search-return list
2. [10] found decomposed corpse OR body woman “No missing person report was ever filed” - 0 entries on search-return list
   [11] found decomposed corpse OR body man “No missing person report was ever filed” - 4 entries on search-return list
3. [12] found decomposed corpse OR body woman “No one missed her” - 0 entries on search-return list
   [13] found decomposed corpse OR body man “No one missed him” - 4 entries on search-return list

The search returns on the last four searches all relate to the same man (not even named - that means he is truly forgotten) in Essen, Germany. One of the entries is worth reading.  The questions it raised for me are:

• What are the chances that women will be more likely than they are now to be forgotten like that, just like a man? One would expect that as equality inexorably progresses for women, equal likelihood to be forgotten would be a true measure of equality, just as equal risks for men and women to become job fatalities (women comprise one out of every 20 job fatalities) or to have equal life expectancies (women in the whole world live on average five more years than men do) would be a measure of true equality.
• Are lesbians or single women as likely as homosexual men or single fathers to be become forgotten, not to be missed, and to be found only a long time after their demise? I strongly suspect that will not happen for as long as the Pope is Catholic.

Anyway, you may wish to find out [14] how GrrlScientist and her friends feel about her fears that the same fate as that of the man in Essen may be in store for her. One of the entries on that blog is so callous that it borders on being humorous.

I am confused as to why such a post-mortem fate is to be feared.

After death, what did this man care that he was undiscovered?

I agree, though, that his life before Nov 30 2000 was probably not very enjoyable. But perhaps he preferred solitude?

That reminds me of a joke:

A beggar walked up to a well-dressed woman shopping on Rodeo Drive and said, “I haven’t eaten anything for days.”  She looked at him and said, “God, I wish I had your willpower.”

(From: [15] Things you can throw back when you are being told another male-bashing joke)

Walter
[16] http://fathersforlife.org