Crazy Cat Ladies Beware

The smell of rotting carcasses creates an exigency that permits a warrantless entry into a home. Commonwealth v. Erickson, 74 Mass.App.Ct. 172 (2009)

When police responded to neighbor's complaints of a barking dog, they came upon the defendant's home and found a disgusting odor. After entering, "officers opened the refrigerator and the kitchen cabinets and found forty-nine to fifty-one animal carcasses and containers holding what appeared to be animal parts or organs." Id. at 174. The officer reasonably believed that the apartment could have contained a human body, justifying the entry and search.