Italian woman found living with dead sisters

ROME, Aug 11 (Reuters) Italian police tipped off by an anonymous phone call found a 70-year old woman living with the corpses of two older sisters who had died roughly a year ago, an Italian news agency said.

It was not clear if the dead sisters, aged 73 and 78, had died of natural causes or were killed, ANSA said yesterday.

''Everything is clearly linked to religion, they believed in resurrection,'' a local prosecutor at the scene told ANSA. ''Some years ago they completely isolated themselves from everyone, many friends thought that they were away at a holiday home.'' Their mummified bodies were taken away for autopsies to determine when and how they died, while their sibling was taken to a hospital, the agency said.

''It was impossible to enter the house because of the stench,'' the prosecutor said, adding that a large dead dog was also found at the house entrance. ''Inside the situation was like that of a horror film.'' Local police were not immediately available for comment.

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