Tomislav Nemes death: Expert reveals how body could ‘mummify’ in home

A leading forensic scientist has revealed how a body could ‘mummify’ in a house with visitors and neighbours none the wiser – as appears to have happened in a mysterious Gold Coast case.

The five-bedroom Benowa home where Tomislav Nemes’s body was found.

The prospect of living with a body in your house would horrify most people – but a leading forensic scientist says it’s not as unlikely as it seems.

Police on the Gold Coast on Tuesday said 69-year-old Tomislav Nemes had been dead for at least a year when his “mummified” body was found at his luxury Benowa home in April by officers conducting a welfare check.

Despite his passing, Mr Nemes’s 70-year-old wife and 48-year-old stepson had remained living at the five-bed property. Police said they were “persons of interest” in their investigation into the matter.

Tomislav Nemes is believed to have died more than 12 months before his body was discovered by police.

Forensics expert Carney Matheson, an Associate Professor at Griffith University’s School of Environment and Science, said a suburban home could provide the right conditions for the mummification of a body.

And it could happen without occupants or visitors being disturbed by sights or smells.

“When you get to body decomposition, there’s a number of stages it goes through,” Professor Matheson said.

“We teach people about and conduct research on these five stages of decomposition (from shortly after death through to skeletonisation), but it depends on the individual body, the location, the temperature, the environment, all these other factors.

“ .... If any of these stages get interrupted, then you can get essentially mummification.”

Professor Matheson said factors such as airflow, temperature and moisture could help slow decomposition and bring about mummification, with suburban homes having provided the right environment on many occasions.

“There’s quite a number of forensic cases, all around Australia, where the body has been there, in a suburban home, sometimes just on the floor, sometimes in a crevice or in a particular room, and they actually have mummified before they have decomposed,” he said.

“And the main reason for that is things within the environment in that room.

“Let’s say they’re in the toilet. You might have a good airflow that’s getting rid of the smell, you’ve got a good airflow that’s bringing in drier air to help dessicate the body, but you don’t actually have a lot of insect access.

“... So absolutely (it’s possible), and it’s not uncommon to find mummified people in houses.”

Forensics expert Carney Matheson, an Associate Professor at Griffith University’s School of Environment and Science.

Even more surprisingly, the presence of a body would not necessarily mean a bad smell or other disturbances would be apparent through a house.

“Let’s say that a person fell off a toilet in an unused part of the house, where there’s five toilets and there’s one toilet that no one really goes to. If they were to fall off the toilet because of a heart attack or something like that and were lying on those tiles and the door was closed and the window was closed, well yeah, they could dry out there easily and mummify very well there,” he said.

“Because toilets have their own ventilation system and the air ducting in toilets usually goes straight to the outside you may not even smell it.

“... The room would have to be in a location where the door was not open. If it was in a bedroom where people were coming in and out, of course you’re going to smell it. Any other used area of the house, living room, dining room and so forth, yeah, you’d notice the smell, there’s no question.

“But if it was a smaller room that people don’t generally enter, and particularly if it’s a room that either has external ventilation, the exhaust fan type vent areas, then you may not even notice the smell at all.

“... Decomposition can be exceptionally varied, there are so many variables. And with the right variables you may not smell anything. If it’s an isolated part of the house you definitely wouldn’t smell anything.”

Police have not revealed where in his Benowa home Mr Nemes was found. His cause of death also remains unknown.

No charges have been laid in relation to his passing.

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