US News

‘Forgotten’ woman’s body found five years after dying

Authorities in Pontiac, Mich., last week discovered the remains of a woman whose death six years ago went unnoticed because her bills had been set on an automatic bank-debit payment ­system.

Though not formally identified yet, investigators believe the woman is Pia Davida Farrenkopf, 49, who was last seen alive in September 2008 — when she was laid off from her job at a financing firm.

Farrenkopf was estranged from her family — and her neighbors, who knew she liked to keep to herself, didn’t think twice about not seeing her around.

They thought she had moved to Germany, as she had said a few times she might.

Her money ran out in March 2013 and the bank began to foreclose. Contractors started to work on her home and discovered the body Wednesday inside her green, 2003 Jeep Liberty.