Hoarder’s Trash Pile Visible On Google Maps
Ever since the show “Hoarders” aired, it seems that there has been an increased human interest in hoarder culture. Anyone looking to get a new exclusive glimpse into the hoarder lifestyle does not need to look any further than Google Maps. Recently, a San Jose man named Richard Baker made headlines when it was discovered that a huge trash pile that he had been hoarding was so large that it was visible in Google Maps!
According to San Jose ABC affiliate KGO news, neighbors say that Richard Baker’s home has been a problem for decades, but after his parents died in 2002, the problem drastically grew much more severe.
“Looks like a cyclone went through here and just piled everything up here,” said neighbor Rudy Valente.
Valente has lived two doors down for 47 years. He says, “You can’t even see the house; all that’s there is debris, junk. I mean solid, solid junk.”
A KGO news investigation revealed that the house in unincorporated East San Jose still belongs to Robert and Bessie Baker on paper, but state records show they both died in 2002. The Bakers lived in the home with their son Richard. Neighbors say Richard slowly piled up up junk from trucks to appliances to bikes, one at a time over 40 years.
Now, sources say that it is unclear whether Baker is still residing in the home, or even if he is still alive. Neighbors say that Baker can be described as eccentric and volatile, and that he often goes missing for extended period of time. This is not an unusual occurrence; but neighbors say that when Baker disappears, they worry that he may be dead within his home.
This concern prompted a welfare search by the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s department.
“We had some deputies inside the house, and the house also was full of debris, boxes piled up to the ceiling, and stuff like that…that made it a little bit difficult,” Santa Clara County Sheriff Sgt. Jose Cordoza told KGO news.
There was no sign of Baker during the search.
KGO news contacted a number of government agencies regarding the mess and was able to get tentative confirmation from a county supervisor that the mess would be cleaned up within a two month period.
Source: KGO News
