Two elderly women were found dead inside their Forest Hills apartment last Wednesday morning.
According to police, Leah Roth, 88, and her sister Ilene, 79, were discovered unconscious on the floor of their apartment on 108th Street just off of Queens Boulevard at around 10:50 a.m. last week.
Law enforcement officials said that EMT’s were called to the place and were pronounced dead at the scene.
Cops said that there were no signs of trauma at the apartment and the medical examiner will determine the cause of death.
Nina Long, a resident of Forest Hills, knew the two for a long time.
She said that she first met them in the 1960’s when Leah worked with her mom at an advertising firm in Manhattan.
Although Long later moved overseas, she still kept in touch with the two sisters through speaking on the phone.
Long later moved back to New York after her husband got a job in Manhattan. She said that while deciding on a place to live, the two sisters took them on a walking tour of Forest Hills, which ultimately led them to moving to that neighborhood.
She said that she was surprised to hear that they passed away.
“I was totally shocked,” Long said.
She added that the sisters were very close with one another and if you were friends with one of them, you were likely to befriend the other one as well.
“They were lovely people,” Long said.
By Luis Gronda
