An overwhelming musty stench of garbage, feces and chemicals greeted those who entered a three-bedroom home in Camarillo.

In the dark hallway past the living room and into the kitchen lay neatly stacked soggy plastic bags filled with garbage piled nearly 4 feet high. Some bags contained unopened tomato soup, canned cat food, mayonnaise and soda cans so old the liquid had rusted through and left a mark on the linoleum floor.

In one bedroom, the former resident, an 84-year-old woman, had carved out a tiny space to lay her head below cobwebs and piles of neatly stacked clothing that towered beside her bed.