The body of a 75-year-old man sat decomposing on his Marina Del Rey balcony for days because neighbors thought the lifeless figure was part of a Halloween display and didn’t call police.

The man had apparently been dead for four or five days with a single gunshot wound to one eye. He was slumped over a chair on the third-floor balcony of his apartment when authorities were alerted to the body. —From the L.A Times, 10/17/09, “Man’s body sat on balcony”