FAIRVIEW HEIGHTS, Ill. — Neighbors were horrified that an 80-year-old woman’s body was found inside of a Fairview Heights home and the woman's daughter was taken into police custody.
Fairview Heights police have called for an autopsy for Karen Hyashi, who lived in the 200 block of Oxford Avenue with her daughter. Neighbors said they haven’t seen or heard from Hyashi in over a year.
Reena S. Hayashi, 48, was facing charges of concealment of a death and obstruction of justice, Fairview Heights police announced Wednesday. She's Karen Hyashi's daughter.
Karen Hyashi used to talk to Sharon Langenhorst's daughter-in-law who lived next door.
“(She would) complain about her daughter, saying she wasn't very nice to her and wouldn't feed her a lot of times,” Langenhorst said. “Erica (the daughter-in-law) would bring food and leave it at the door because the daughter would never open the door. "We've tried to get wellness checks done in the past because we hadn't heard from the mother in ages.”
But nothing ever came from those checks. Although the calls from the mother stopped, neighbors would scarcely see the daughter around the house.
On Monday, firefighters went to the home to cut down a tree in front of a fire hydrant thinking the house was vacant. Langenhorst informed them that the house was occupied and a wellness check was needed for the mother. Firefighters called police. Police spoke with the daughter on the side of the house according to Langenhorst. The daughter told police Hyashi was in Hawaii.
"No, she was too ill to hop a plane and go to Hawaii," Langenhorst told the officer.
So officers went back to the house.
"This time they went to the front door and it took her a while to answer,” Langenhorst said. “This time she was nervous and then they smelled an odor.”
Police didn’t know when the woman died but said she had been dead for a while. The neighbor said the daughter was detained by police as crews removed the body from the home.
Fairview Heights police said an autopsy has been ordered as they continue to investigate more leads.
Langenhorst thanks officers for taking a second look for the 80-year-old woman. She wishes something was done sooner.
"She probably could've been saved a long time ago if (the authorities) would've listened," the neighbor said.
She encourages others to continue to look out for their neighbors — especially when something doesn’t seem right.
"If you know someone is over there and you don't see activity, what's the harm in checking,” She said. “Everyone is afraid to be called the nosy neighbor but my neighbors can be nosey all they want. If you don't see me out and about, have somebody check."
Charges were filed against Reena S. Hayashi Wednesday, but detectives were still pursuing leads and waiting for additional medical evidence.
Charging documents said Reena Hayashi continued to accept Karen Hayashi's financial benefits and assistance after Karen's death and filed a tax return in Karen's name to cover up the death, resulting in the concealment charges.