Woman With Uncashed Checks Found Living in Filthy Garage

A woman found living in a filthy, dark garage had thousands of dollars worth of uncashed government checks dating back 10 years, police said Monday.

Vivian Rohn, 53, was taken to Cottage Hospital for observation after paramedics were summoned Friday to check on her welfare and police were notified.

Lt. Ed Aasted said the conditions inside the garage on Madrona Drive were the worst he had ever seen.

Officers found rotting food, bottles of urine and soiled diapers. Cobwebs hung from a cord that controlled the light, which the woman reportedly said she never turned on so that people would not know she was there.

‘Dark Hole’

“She’d just go into that dark hole, and that’s where she existed,” Aasted said.

Police found uncashed government checks for several thousand dollars made out to the woman and dating from 1978. The woman told police she had about $7,000 in checks in the debris.

Paramedics were called by Wendy Boettner, daughter of Donald Boettner, who owns the house where the garage is located. She said she had seen the woman’s condition worsen and had unsuccessfully sought help from social services agencies.

According to police, Wendy Boettner said that when she moved into her father’s home, her father said that a woman lived in the garage, and she did not investigate because she considered it her father’s business.

Wendy Boettner said she saw Rohn only occasionally. She said her father took food to the woman and checked on her several times a week.

Donald Boettner told police that he allowed Rohn to live in the garage for several years, did not charge rent and loaned her money. Rohn had known Boettner years earlier and called him when she came to California, according to police.

Boettner said he was in a difficult position of protecting her desire for secrecy, while trying to keep her alive by feeding her.

“I like to think that the time she spent with me kept her going,” Boettner said. “I’d like to think I helped her.”

Aasted said that, despite the woman being reclusive, she perked up as she was about to depart in the ambulance.

“My parting comment to her was that maybe for the first time in years she was going to have a nice Christmas,” Aasted said. “She was sitting up with a big smile on her face when she left.”