Hoarder pulled from trash-filled home taken to intensive care

By Christian Boone

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Neighbors had complained before about Mary Minter's unkempt yard, littered with weeds and debris. But that was nothing compared to the interior of the 38-year-old's Sandy Springs bungalow, as firefighters discovered earlier Tuesday.

Enlarge photo

Bob Andres, bandres@ajc.com

Enlarge photo

Bob Andres, bandres@ajc.com

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Minter had to be extricated from her home by four rescue personnel following a 911 call from an unidentified source. It took the firefighters 40 minutes to wade through "chest-high" debris that clogged the hallways of the modest residence, located in the Cherokee Park neighborhood just off Roswell Road.

Sandy Springs Deputy Fire Chief Jeff Scarbrough described the smell as "intolerable," though he didn't have to navigate his way through the trash. The firefighters who did had to be decontaminated, Scarbrough told the AJC. The Kitty Hawk Drive home, shrouded in overgrown ivy, has been condemned and Minter will be responsible for cleaning it up, said Marcus Kellum, Sandy Springs' chief of code enforcement.

Minter, who grew up in the house, was taken to Northside Hospital, where she was listed in intensive care earlier Tuesday. Reached later in the day, a hospital spokeswoman would not elaborate on Minter's condition, only to say it had changed.

"People didn't really know her," said Sandy Springs City councilwoman Karen Meinzen McEnerny, past president of the Cherokee Park Neighborhood Association. She has lived down the street from Minter since 1988. "We respect people's privacy here."

A neighbor used to mow Minter's lawn, McEnerny said, but recently one neighbor anonymously contacted the code enforcement office complaining about the state of her yard. Minter was served with a warning last week, but the ticket remained on her mailbox Tuesday. Kellum said code officers had tried to contact her three times since -- in person and on the phone -- but received no response.

"I saw [Minter] at the mailbox just last week," said Bill Kasper, 55, who lives about a block away. "But you didn't see her out much."

According to public records, Minter's parents moved into the home in 1985. Her father died in 1996, five years before her mother passed away. Minter was CEO and secretary of the Minter Family Foundation, according to Guidestar, which supplies information about nonprofits. Public records reveal she had been slapped with multiple federal and state tax liens.

"People live in different ways," Kasper said. "You never know."

Though the house has been condemned, Minter still owns it and could return. A mediation will be scheduled, Kellum said, and provided Minter brings the residence up to code, she can move back in, without restrictions.

"We've had issues with hoarders before," Kellum told the AJC, "but never to this extent."