Woman Found Dead in Valley Cottage

On Saturday the 6th, the Clarkstown Police Department received a report of an unresponsive individual outside of the Sierra Vista condos in Valley Cottage. The call came in broad daylight at 12:30 p.m., and when the officers arrived they found a deceased adult female. Once emergency and medical personnel arrived, the woman was officially pronounced dead.

While the Clarkstown Police Department Detectives and the Rockland County Medical Examiner’s Office are continuing to investigate, they have assured the press and the public that there are no indications of foul play and no threat to the public. Unfortunately, the specific wording found in the press release leads readers to suspect natural causes, suicide, or potentially an overdose. At time of publication the identity of the deceased was being withheld as detectives and officers work to notify the next of kin. 

Why did no one report the body earlier? Certainly at least one of the residents of the condominiums was up  and about before 12:30 p.m., so why did it take that long for the police to be notified?

The fear is that this afternoon phone call was a result of the bystander effect, a social phenomenon where individuals will assume that “someone else” will handle the problem.

This call reminds readers that if you see something, say something. The worst  case scenario is you embarrass yourself and the police come out only to turn back around, a situation they are more than used to. The best case scenario is that one of your community members gets the help they need.