Mortgage Fraud Led To Home Being Transferred Three Times While Dead Owner 'Unwittingly' Sat Inside

In Chicago, Illinois, the Chicago Tribune reports:

• The new buyers of a rundown graystone on the South Side showed up Jan. 9 to look at the house they won at a foreclosure auction. They took the plywood off the front door and went inside to make sure the utilities had been shut off. Then they called the police. Sitting upright in the corner of a bedroom off the kitchen was a human skeleton in a red tracksuit. Next to him lay a dead dog. Neighbors told police the corpse was almost certainly Randy Johnson, a middle-age man who lived alone in the North Kenwood house.

• The cause of Johnson's death has not yet been determined, but it is just one of the mysteries about 4578 S. Oakenwald Ave. Somehow, Johnson's house was transferred three times to new owners without anyone noticing he was inside.

• It's a story involving forged deeds, a corrupt title company and a South Side family that has been under investigation for mortgage fraud. Left holding the bag is Countrywide Home Loans, the nation's largest mortgage lender and a company whose practices are being scrutinized by the Illinois attorney general's office. Countrywide made mortgages of $450,000 on the property. Now it is likely to lose it all because it financed the sale of a home whose rightful owner was in no condition to sell.

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• Last week, Countrywide vacated the recent sale of 4578 S. Oakenwald and returned the buyer's money. That happened only after Cook County officials announced they would fight to put the house back in the Johnson family's name.

For all the details, see This house was a steal (How fraud led to this property changing hands 3 times as son of owner sat dead inside) (if link expires, try here).

Go here and go here for other posts on deed theft by forgery, swindle, etc. deed theft yahtzee