Woman was dead for weeks in Richland home. And she wasn’t alone

The body of a woman has been found inside a Richland home, several weeks after she died.

And Richland detectives are investigating her death after finding another woman in the Mahan Avenue house.

Police have not released information about the second woman’s connection to the woman who died, only that the person was taken for mental health treatment.

Richland police officers were helping Benton County sheriff’s deputies Thursday afternoon when they went to the house on the 1400 block because they’d been asked to check on someone and to serve a court order, Richland police said in a Facebook post.

When they arrived about 1:20 p.m., they discovered the woman was dead and the other woman was in the house.

The police department’s mental health outreach team helped take the second woman to a local hospital.

Police have not said the reason for the court order.

However, public records show the Washington state Department of Social and Health Services sought an injunction for one of the residents, alleging an older vulnerable adult inside the home was possibly being neglected and mistreated.

Benton County Coroner Bill Leach said an autopsy for the woman who died is planned for next week.

He said an initial examination did not turn up any obvious wounds, but an autopsy is necessary to make sure.

This story was originally published February 5, 2021 at 10:51 AM.