Bank Claims 'External Inspection' On Home Before Body Found Inside

FOUNTAIN, Colo. (CBS4)- The bank said it conducted an external inspection on a foreclosed home before a woman's body was found inside by a the new owner.

Authorities believe the woman's body was inside for about 16 months.

"If you're bidding at a foreclosure sale, it's really buyer beware," said attorney Greg O'Boyle.

O'Boyle said it is common for banks to never step foot inside of homes sold at foreclosure auctions if its believed someone still lives there.

"The banks will usually do just a brief inspection," said O'Boyle. "Kind of a drive-by inspection of the property - nothing more than that."

Hootan Emami bought the home in Fountain at auction after it went into foreclosure. The bank put it up for auction because payments had not been made in months.

Emami was checking out his new home with a contractor when they found the body of a woman inside.

Neighbors said they hadn't seen her for months.

Wells Fargo said it began the foreclosure process on the home when they stopped receiving payments. Police said they did a welfare check last year, but no one came to the door.

The woman's husband died a month before neighbor's stopped seeing her around and some assumed she had moved back to Germany.

Police do not believe anything suspicious happened surrounding her death.