A skeleton on the floor means no title on the door
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Winning bidder on Burlington home where 3 bodies were found wants to delay closing
Bottom line, the “seller” can’t deliver clear title unless and until the late owner of the third set of bones and his time of death are determined.
BURLINGTON — Unanswered questions about when three people died at a home are raising concerns about whether the foreclosure process may have been legally defective, prompting an attorney's request to delay the closing.
An attorney for the winning bidder of the Stanwich Lane home asked the judge to reopen the judgment after the title insurance company said it cannot issue a clear title.
Three bodies were found inside the secluded home on June 14 by the new homeowner who won a bid for the property during a foreclosure auction on June 6, the attorney said.
The home was owned by Paul and Sally Cash. They purchased the home in September 2019 for $535,000, according to town records. The couple took out a $385,000 mortgage on the property, according to town land records.
Court records indicate no $3,255 mortgage payment was made since December 2024.
Court records show a foreclosure was recorded on the property on Aug. 6, 2025.
The state Office of the Chief Medical Examiner announced June 22 that two sets of remains, Sally Ann Cash, 54, and her son, Brian Cash, 22, had been identified, and that a third set is still being tested for DNA. The cause and manner of all three deaths are still pending.
Consultations with Connecticut Attorneys Title Insurance Company determined the foreclosure may be legally defective depending on when the property owners died. Presuming the third body is Paul Cash, if they died before the foreclosure was recorded, their heirs, the probate court, the Connecticut Department of Revenue and the Connecticut Attorney General's Office should have been named in the foreclosure action, wrote John C. Lewis III, attorney for the winning bidder, Edward A. Marchion.
"In other words, Mr. Marchion cannot currently obtain adequate title insurance at this time because CATIC would necessarily take exceptions from coverage for parties omitted from the foreclosure process such as the heirs of the estate," Lewis wrote in his motion.
Lewis asked that the closing date be suspended until the completion of the Connecticut State Police investigation "so that it may be determined whether the foreclosure action is valid or defective."
Lesson for home buyers: always check for cellar dwellers during your final walk-through.
