Woman found dead in trash can; family wants answers
CEDARBROOK -- The sisters of a woman found in a trash can in the Cedarbrook section of Philadelphia are searching for answers to the events surrounding her death.
Her family says Olivia, known to them as Liv, was a transient. She's described as in-and-out of facilities and shelters. Often, she would be spotted around Mount Airy where she grew up.
"She didn't deserve to be in a trash can. She's a human being," said sister Victoria Kennedy.
Around 9 a.m. Saturday, police were called to the 1800 block of East Cliveden Street after a neighbor, Ronald Harvey, spotted what appeared to be a foot hanging out of a trash can.
"I saw a foot hanging out the trash can and I said, 'That looks like a body.' I looked again and I said, 'That is a body,'" he said.
Neighbors said they've seen the trash can out for weeks.
"It shocks me as being quite surprising because every night for the past two weeks, I come home from work and that trash can has been put out there. I never paid it any attention," said William Lewis, of Mount Airy.
Lewis said trash day is on Monday and neighbors are consistent about taking their bins off the street afterward.
"You couldn't smell nothing, but it just stuck out like a sore thumb. It didn't belong here," Lewis said at the time. "Very, very shocking. It's somebody's daughter grandmother or child. It's just sad."
Frances Kennedy DeLoatch was the last person to speak to her sister Liv.
"She said she needed help, and the hospital she was in was putting her out because her insurance no longer covered her stay there," said DeLoatch. "We asked her over and over again to come with us, let us get her help, but she said she has been through the system and there is no help for her."
Her family said they are angry and they want answers.
"Whoever did this, all you had to do was call the police and say there's a person who needed help," Frances said.
Kennedy is asking anyone with information to come forward.
"She has two children and she has a grandbaby on the way. She didn't deserve this regardless of whatever lifestyle she lived. She didn't deserve this. No one does," Kennedy said.
The Kennedy family, who just buried one of their siblings two weeks ago, is now tasked with saying goodbye to another family member.
Late Sunday night, a police source told Action News that preliminary autopsy results showed no signs of trauma. However, the medical examiner will determine the exact cause of death.
