(NewsGlobal.com)- Two severely decomposed bodies were found in the home of former Rhode Island mayor Susan Menard on Monday.
According to reports, a neighbor called the police to conduct a welfare check saying he hadn’t seen the elderly couple in a week.
The neighbor also told police there was a strong odor coming from the Woonsocket home.
Officers discovered the deceased elderly couple upon entering the home.
One of the two bodies discovered in a former Rhode Island mayor’s home earlier this week has been identified as former Woonsocket Mayor Susan Menard, Rhode Island health officials announced.
Authorities said they discovered two “severely decomposed” bodies belonging to an elderly man and woman inside Menard’s home earlier this week.
On Friday, Rhode Island health officials announced they had identified the second body as Daniel Grabowski. They also revealed Menard’s cause of death as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Grabowski, officials said, died of type 2 diabetes.
Grabowski was identified as Menard’s longtime boyfriend, The Boston Globe reported.
Menard had been the longest-serving mayor of Woonsocket, a town of roughly 40,000 in the northern part of Rhode Island near the Massachusetts border, the Providence Journal reported. She served from 1995 to 2009.
Candles, flowers, and stuffed animals were left on the front steps of the house as word of Menard’s death spread.
City leaders said they were shocked and devastated.
“She was a tenacious woman. She fought for the community. She served on the School Committee then the City Council,” said incumbent Mayor Lisa Baldelli-Hunt.
Menard went on to become Woonsocket’s first female mayor in 1995 and the second woman to serve as mayor in the state.
“She was a champion for women,” said John Dionne, a friend, and former co-worker.
Current and former city leaders widely respected Menard.
Menard was recalled by Lisa Baldelli-Hunt, the current mayor of Woonsocket, as “a strong leader” who took care of the senior inhabitants of the community, according to the Providence Journal.
A middle school in Woonsocket was given the name Menard in 2017.
