If an incident involved children, sexual assault or domestic violence, perhaps it's not any of your business. You can call the police dept. and ask what you're allowed to know, or approach the officer and ask him/her.

According to Palo Alto police, it was an "unattended death." The resident passed away from natural causes, likely diabetes, according to police.

PA Editor - thanks. Is the police line tape to keep out the local Realtors circling for a listing?

I think domestic assault is anyone's business. Then the neighbors could keep an eye out in future for the victim's welfare.

Whereas something like this may not be our business, we are expected to be vigilant and take note of what goes on in our neighborhoods. If crime scene tape is around something in our neighborhood, it is only natural to speculate and more often than not we would imagine something much worse than what really happened. Telling the neighbors what is happening is polite and neighborly or else next time someone sees something suspicious they may turn away thinking "it is probably none of my business".

Whenever a homeowner dies, there is good reason to block off the residence with "crime scene" tape. When the owner of a home dies, various Palo Alto realtors will be attracted to the residence and often circle the area waiting for a child of the deceased or an executor to appear. Then realtors will scramble to give this person their business cards and glossy brochures in the hopes of getting the house as a listing. It's similar to buzzards tearing the flesh off of road kill, but not as dignified or civilized.

I would advocate gratefully accepting those cards and brochures and collecting them in those early days. They can be useful. When the time comes to make a sale, consult those contacts for a list of who NOT to call. Also, write to the corporate heads of their agencies to express distaste for the vulture tactics.

My mother passed away last year. Any realtor attempting to contact our family about a listing within the first few weeks of her passing would have been automatically backballed. When the time came, *WE* made the contacts.