The NYPD twice searched the Queens home of Emmy-winning production designer Evelyn Sakash before her body was found buried beneath garbage inside.
The mummified remains of 66-year-old Sakash were discovered by cleaning crews in the kitchen of her trash-strewn property on Tuesday – five months after cops conducted two fruitless searches of the residence.
Sakash went missing last September, prompting her cousin to file a missing person’s report from Nevada.
On October 18, NYPD officers conducted a 45-minute search of Sakash’s home, located in the Queens neighborhood of College Point.
They arrived to discover the residence stuffed full of garbage, before they found four dogs and six cat inside. The animals were taken to a local shelter, but cops saw no sign of Sakash – who was known to be a hoarder.
Officers returned with cadaver dogs the following day, and conducted another 45-minute search, digging beneath ‘floor to ceiling’ debris for the missing production designer. Again, they left without any clues as to her whereabouts.
Police told The New York Daily News Friday that they believe Sakash was already dead on the kitchen floor. However, stench from garbage inside the home likely stopped the sniffer dogs from picking up her scent.
Evelyn Sakash, 66, was found by a cleaning crew Tuesday in her Queens home on Tuesday – six months after she was last seen alive
Sakash’s sister had recently come to New York to have a cleaning crew clean out the home, according to police. Sakash had been missing since last September
On October 18, NYPD officers conducted a 45-minute search of Sakash’s home, located in the Queens neighborhood of College Point. The exterior is pictured
They arrived to discover the residence stuffed full of garbage, before they found four dogs and six cat inside
Cleaning crews are seen taking out more garbage from Sakash’s home on Friday morning
Sakash was an established production designer and art director with more than 30 years experience in the film and television industry.
Her IMDB page include credits for Orange is the New Black and Billions. She also worked for Disney and MTV.
In 2003, Sakash won a Daytime Creative Arts Emmy for Outstanding Achievement in Art Direction/Set Decoration/Scenic Design for her work on the children’s show, Between the Lions.
However, her friend and neighbor, Laraine Memola, told The Daily News that Sakash’s work dried up amid the COVID-19 pandemic, which likely caused her to fall into a depression.
‘Her job gave her a purpose,’ Memola stated.
The pal says Sakash was already suffering due to the recent passing of her beloved mom, who resided in a nearby nursing home.
‘Evelyn always took care of her mom — her mom was here in College Point, in a nursing home,’ Memola stated. ‘She’d always bring her food.’
Sakash was an established production designer and art director with more than 30 years experience in the film and television industry. Her IMDB page include credits for Orange is the New Black and Billions. She also worked for Disney and MTV
Bags of potting soil are seen stacked up outside Sakash’s home. She reportedly fell into a depression following the death of her mom last year
Police told The Daily News that the inside of the home was stuffed full of ‘floor to ceiling debris’
Floral tributes are left outside the home of the 66-year-old. She was not married and did not have children
Friends and neighbors have laid cards and flowers outside the College Point residence after Sakash was found inside Tuesday
Memola contonued: ‘Between the pandemic, her job, her mom — it hit her har.
‘Her mom’s funeral was at the height of the pandemic and it was only her, a friend, and her nephew.’
With no work to distract herself, Memola believes Sakash slumped further into depression.
‘It had to add to the depression, along with her mom passing,’ the friend stated.
‘She was suffering. She lost a lot of weight.’
Sakash’s siste, Ellen Brown, launched a GoFundMe last December to help supplement the cost of the search into the production designer’s whereabouts.
Late last month, Brown paid for cleaning crews to tidy out the home when they made the grim discovery.
Brown told The Daily News that she does not want her sister to be remembered for the sad way she died.
‘She had a full life and she was so extraordinarily talented,’ she stated. ‘She was a brilliant mind.’
Junk is seen stacked up near the sidewalk of Sakash’s Queens home on Friday
Sakash was a noted hoarder, but her sister says she wants her to be remembered as a ‘brilliant mind’ who had an extraordinary career
