Overlooked love ones

Can someone explain to me please HOW THE HELL people go for months and even years after tying without being discovered...in their own homes.

On cnn.com today there was an article on how a poor man died in his home in Texas after Hurricane Rita. That was 18 months ago. A prospective buyer found the man in his bed and had apparently been there all this time. There was no damage to the home except for huge limbs that blocked many parts of his house. The man had been ill for awhile but had died of natural causes. No one seemed to notice because after people returned, they questioned his whereabouts but blew it off to rebuild their own homes. No one thought to contact the police to have them just check? Or better yet, the police didn't take it upon themselves to search the houses to see if anyone had passed away? Family didn't even bother to check. Really nice, I hope this sticks on all their consciences for the rest of their lives

On foxnews.com there was an article about an 83 year old woman that had disappeared four years ago. Apparently they didn't search very hard. The woman's pile of bones was discovered next to her cane in her New York City home. After finally being declared dead, a developer had purchased the property and the remains were found after a cleaning crew was sent in. No one thought to look in the woman's house, especially the family? Shouldn't that be the first place to start? You look for clues about what could have happened and so forth? Or I dont know, maybe see if the POOR WOMAN WAS STILL IN THERE.

I'm sure the family of the deceased and the police officers were very proud of how both of these cases were handled.