Police Search For Relative To Inherit Millions From Deceased Hoarder

Have you ever gotten that e mail from a "lawyer" who claims to be looking for a relative of a rich person with your last name that left millions of dollars in inheritance? I have. I have always immediately deleted the e mail knowing full well there was a 100% chance it was a hoax. Maybe I shouldn't be so hasty.

This is just one of those stories that you see in a movie and cant believe would ever happen. It did.

69 year old Walter Samaszko Jr. of Carson City Nevada recently passed away in his home. It seems Walter was a bit eccentric, a loner and a hoarder. I don't know how bad of a hoarder he was but it has to be pretty bad because it took neighbors over a month to realize he might be dead and  call the police.

The police discovered a lot more than just junk in Walter's home though. On top of all the hoarded junk they found over 7 million dollars worth of cold bars and coins, $12,000  in cash and $165,000 dollars in stocks.

It was clear that Walter was not a big fan of banks because while he did have an account, it only had $200 in it. What they couldn't find was any next of kin or, it would seem,  a will. Authorities spent months trying to track down any relatives of Walter and finally found a first cousin living in California.

That woman, who lives in San Rafael, just found herself several million dollars richer, and while the story doesn't say it, I'm willing to bet she didn't even know this cousin existed.

So, while I still will be deleted those e mails from con men, I may have to start holding out a little hope that one day something crazy like that could actually happen to me.