Police: 90-year-old living with 3 siblings' bodies

updated 6:11 p.m. ET Nov. 8, 2008

EVANSTON, Ill. - A 90-year-old woman well-liked by her neighbors apparently has been living in a house with the bodies of three siblings, one of whom may have been dead since the early 1980s, police say.

Police Cmdr. Tom Guenther says the bodies were found Friday in Evanston, a Chicago suburb, after authorities were called by a senior advocate.

The woman was taken to a hospital for observation. Her identity was not released.

Autopsies were planned but Guenther said police do not suspect foul play. The Cook County Medical Examiner's office said it could be some time before causes of death can be determined because the deaths occurred so long ago.

Neighbors described the woman as alert and aware, and said she was well liked on their close-knit block of large, historic homes. She enjoyed gardening and shared her plants with others, they said.

The Cook County Medical Examiner's office identified the dead as Anita Bernstorff, who was last seen alive in May 2008, Frank Bernstorff, not seen alive since 2003, and Elaine Bernstorff, who was last seen alive in the early 1980s.

Anita Bernstorff was the eldest, born in 1910.

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