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The best estimate is that his suicide happened in late 2007. That's when he quit his job. That's when he wrote his last check. That's when he talked of moving away.

And that's when he disappeared, not quite in plain sight but right there in his longtime home.

His body was not discovered until January. I don't mean 2008 or 2009 or 2010 or 2011. He was found last month. This year.

For four years, he never paid a bill or emptied his mailbox or pushed a lawn mower or snow shovel. Notices and warning letters were sent his way, but no one ever entered the house to see if he was there and doing all right.

Finally, on Jan. 23, Carter's 45th birthday, a real estate worker from the Milwaukee County treasurer's office walked up to the door. A locksmith came along. The house near S. 58th and Madison streets had just been awarded to the county in December in a tax foreclosure.