Geelong house of horrors: Shocking video shows elderly woman Maree Natoli who lived with her brother Robert’s corpse trapped in filthy garage for days after the grim discovery

EXCLUSIVE

An elderly woman who lived with her brother’s body has been filmed locked in her filthy garage just hours after the grim discovery.

Geelong woman Maree, believed to be in her 70s, had been interviewed by Geelong detectives and released without charge in December 2022 afterorensic specialists in biohazard suits removed the remains of her brother, Robert Natoli, from their home.

Daily Mail Australia has obtained a heartbreaking video interview with Maree, recorded by a concerned citizen after she returned to her lockdown ppublic housing in the Geelong suburb of Newtown, south-west of Melbourne.

Sitting behind a pile of trash under the back porch of her house, Maree politely talked to her interviewer about her life.

“I’ve never been married, no children, no partner, nothing,” Maree said.

‘I used to have family, but now mum and dad have passed away. I have no one now. And my aunts too. And uncles. I have cousins.”

When asked if she had any siblings, Maree said she had none.

‘No. No, I haven’t,’ she exclaimed sadly.

Hours earlier, police had removed her from the same property in handcuffs after discovering the skeletal remains of her brother, who would have turned 76 this year.

Maree told the woman she hoped she would be able to regain access to the dilapidated property, which was still full of rubbish of all kinds.

“They have to do something,” said Maree, who was baking under the hot summer sun.

Maree offered food and water, but refused despite her dire situation.

“I don’t have any food here… it’s okay. Thank you. You are a nice girl, thank you very much for that. I’ll be fine. I have water there,” she said, referring to a tap in the backyard.

The woman who shot the video, who wished to remain anonymous, told Daily Mail Australia that Maree spent the next three days sweltering in her garage.

“Marie called later that night after she was arrested and we immediately called the (housing) department and they came and told her she wasn’t allowed in the house so she left. And the next morning she was back in the garden moving the bins,” the woman said.

“Then she was sitting under the carport and I thought someone was with her, she was talking to someone in the backyard, but no one was there.”

The woman said Maree looked good and happily chatted about neighborhood gossip from years ago.

“She would remember people’s names. She doesn’t have dementia because she could remember things that happened years ago… she was just having a normal conversation.”

The woman filmed part of the exchange in the hope that it might be useful to authorities.

Victoria Police spokeswoman Kathryn Muffett told Daily Mail Australia on Friday that Maree’s welfare following her release was not their concern.

‘The woman was released from hospital. Tthis would be a matter for DFFH (the Department of Families, Fairness and Housing),” she responded via email.

A spokesperson for the department described the incident as tragic and expressed his ‘Deepest condolences to the man’s family and friends.”

“All complaints received were taken seriously and staff sought to have them addressed, taking into account tenants’ rights under the Residential Tenancies Act,” the department said.

‘The department had made numerous attempts to inspect the property and contact the tenant and had applied to VCAT to secure access to the property.

“The man’s sister was immediately provided with alternative housing and support services.”

But Maree said the department locked her out.

“She said, ‘I didn’t do anything wrong. I’m not a criminal. They won’t let me in or give me the key,'” the concerned citizen said.

When police learned there was a body inside, Maree claimed she knew nothing about it.

“That’s what they said,” Maree said to the woman.

‘There was no body inside. I lived there for years and I would have known if there was a body in there.’

Government representatives eventually arrived with health workers, but Maree refused to leave her garage, a neighbor said.

‘We thought they might have forced her because she was clearly mentally unwell. She said, “I don’t trust doctors. I don’t trust anyone. I’ve never been to a doctor and I’m doing fine.” And they just left her there,” the neighbor said.

“She was there three days after this happened, just sitting under the carport. She went for a walk and came back. A neighbor ended up taking her in for days and the department eventually gave her a new home.”

Maree told neighbors she had never had ID and it remains unknown whether she received Centrelink payments.

‘It’s as if she just came out of nowhere and moved into the house. We don’t know where she came from. She claimed she once lived in Sydney, but who knows if that’s true,” said a neighbor.

Video obtained by Daily Mail Australia from a person who had permission to enter the home showed Maree’s home chock full of trash.

In the room where her dead brother was supposedly found, rubbish was piled high, while her toilet, kitchen and bedrooms resembled a tip.

It is clear that Maree had lived in the house for years without electricity or water connection.

On the day of her arrest, police had come to Maree’s home to conduct a welfare check but she refused to let them in, a witness told Daily Mail Australia.

“They used a crowbar and smashed through it and then they walked into the house and saw the deceased and they arrested Maree and took her away,” the witness said.

A video of that arrest later appeared on TikTok, sparking renewed interest in Maree’s plight.

Maree was known to spend most of her days outdoors, where she was often observed trimming her lawns with regular household shears and removing rubbish bins from the road.

‘She spent hours outside and looked like she was cleaning her garden, but she wasn’t really doing that. She was just moving trash,” a neighbor said.

Neighbors told Daily Mail Australia that while they thought Maree was largely harmless, she was confrontational when questioned about her strange antics.

“She wasn’t physically aggressive, but she was always yelling and angry and confrontational,” a neighbor said.

Her brother, who is believed to have died at least five years before his body was found under a pile of rubbish, was described by neighbors as mentally ill.

‘It was her brother’s house and everyone thought he had moved out. Initially, he was alone in the house and later Maree moved in,” said a neighbor.

‘He was strange. He came out and walked around in his underwear and stuff, but then Maree came and they were both there for a while… he was usually inside, while Maree was always outside.”

Neighbors claimed Maree was determined to ensure the CCTV cameras installed in their flats were not pointed at her home, which was always plunged into darkness by moldy blinds.

Nicole Stratton, who has lived directly behind the house for the past six years, told Daily Mail Australia she had made numerous complaints to Victoria’s Department of Families, Fairness and Housing about her neighbour, but they had been unable to expose the body to lay.

While the neighbors were oblivious to the squalor Maree was living in, her dirty garage was more than enough to worry about.

“They came to see (me) and they asked about her and I complained about the smell. It was disgusting and the carport was always full of (trash),” she said last week.

‘I always thought the smell was just garbage because she was always collecting garbage everywhere. I thought it was the old junk left under the carport.

‘The blinds were always down and there was just mold on them. She never opened the house.”