PIEDMONT, Calif. -- Police in Piedmont, Calif., are investigating the discovery of a mummified body inside a home.

Neighbors haven't seen or talked to the homeowner in years, San Francisco television station KTVU reported.

Police officers said they were asked to make a welfare check on Tuesday night when they discovered the remains of an elderly woman by the front entryway.

Capt. John Hunt of the Piedmont Police Department said the body appeared to have been there "for a long time" and was in a "mummified condition."

The family friend who requested the welfare check said the family believes the deceased remains are those of 86-year-old homeowner Patricia Bostrom. He said relatives last saw her about five years ago.

"It's just creepy," the family friend said. "I think it's something really bizarre about covering something up, maybe neglecting somebody who ends up dead."

A neighbor said he thought the home was unoccupied until about a month ago, when he saw a woman in her 60s cleaning the house.

"I was introducing myself and I said 'Is someone moving in now?' She said 'No, someone's been here the whole time,'" the neighbor said. "I thought that was really odd, because we've never seen a light, the newspapers pile up on the front lawn and there's absolutely no sign of life there. I actually didn't believe her."

The family friend said "any inquiries about Patricia's health and well-being were deflected by her daughter."

Police said they do have a person of interest in this case and that they interviewed her on Wednesday afternoon. Police said the person of interest is someone who paid the bills to upkeep the home.

Police said an autopsy by the Alameda County coroner's office found no obvious signs of trauma, but said the woman did suffer from an unspecified medical condition.

Authorities have not released a cause of death.