A new homeowner in Connecticut discovered the skeletal remains of three people in a house they bought “as is” at a foreclosure auction earlier this month.
According to the Connecticut State Police, the resident reported the human remains inside the Burlington home on Stanwich Lane that they bought on June 6 by calling 911 on Sunday.
Built in 2002 on more than two acres, the four-bedroom house was overgrown with dense grass, weeds, and plants at the time of the purchase. Town records reveal Paul and Sally Anne Cash paid more than $800,000 for the property in 2019. Court records also show the foreclosure on the property began on August 1, 2025.
The owners had been notified by their mortgage servicer that the property was in default, initiating the foreclosure process. According to CT Insider, the postal service delivered the letter to a post office box at a UPS store in Avon, which is thirty minutes away from the Burlington residence.
A state marshal attempted to serve the Cashes at the Stanwich Lane residence on August 18, 2025, after authorities started the foreclosure, but was unable to do so. The marshal claimed he had to “climb over the balcony to get to the door because the trees were overgrown.” He also said that when he knocked on the front door, nobody replied and that a neighbor had informed him that they had not seen the occupants “in years” and that they had abandoned the property at least a year ago.
The discovery of the bodies has led to several legal questions
Despite living in Burlington for seven years, online voter registration websites indicated that neither owner held any licenses, permits, certifications, or registrations with the state of Connecticut, and neither one seemed to have any social media presence.
The court-appointed attorney tasked with handling the foreclosure is now questioning the legality of the court’s ruling in response to the finding of human remains on the property.
“While a disturbing mystery in and of itself, the discovery of these human remains poses a possible question as to the validity of the foreclosure judgment, depending upon the identity of the bodies and the time of death,” attorney Christopher H. Thogmartin wrote in a motion filed on Tuesday. “Given the question as to the possible validity of the underlying judgment, the undersigned committee respectfully asks the court for direction regarding adherence to the deadlines prescribed in the court’s standing orders.”
Also according to Thogmartin, even though the house was in a “clear state of neglect,” there were two recently installed signs that said “Keep Out” and “Owner Occupied Premises,” and on the day of the June 6 auction, no attempt was made to enter the house.
Investigators say three individuals may have been dead for several months. As of Tuesday morning, the three people’s identities had not yet been verified, according to state police, and the state Office of the Chief Medical Examiner had not yet established their causes of death. Detectives with the state police’s Western District Major Crime unit are investigating.