A Stanwich Lane property in Burlington, in June 2026 when the property was auctioned under a foreclosure action, only for the buyer to discover the remains of three people inside. State police will share findings Sept. 30, 2026 after a 3 1/2-month probe into the Cash family deaths in Burlington.
David Zajac / Hearst Connecticut Media
CT Insider obtained a photograph of Paul and Sally Ann Cash’s wedding photo. The remains of the Cashes and their son, Brian, were found inside their Burlington home in June.
Contributed
CT Insider obtained a photograph of Paul and Sally Ann Cash’s wedding photo. The remains of the Cashes and their son, Brian, were found inside their Burlington home in June.
Contributed
Connecticut State Police are investigating after the skeletal remains of three people were found at a home on Stanwich Lane in Burlington on June 14, 2026.
Bruno Matarazzo Jr. / Hearst Connecticut Media
BURLINGTON — State police officials said at a news conference Wednesday that the Cash family, who were found dead inside their Stanwich Lane home last June, lived a secluded life and that the last known contact with anyone in the home was Sept. 23, 2025.
State police said a cause of the death and date of death could not be concluded by the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner’s Office, but there was no evidence of foul play or threats to the public.
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There was no food inside the home except for powdered milk and it’s unknown if there was heating.
“We know that a lack of cause or the why can be frustrating. We have seen a widespread interest in this case due to the unique circumstances surrounding the discovery of the remains,” said Detective Ashley Padua of the Connecticut State Police Western District Major Crime Squad.
On Sept. 2, the Office of Chief Medical Examiner announced the final cause and manner of death for the three — husband and wife Paul and Sally Ann Cash, and their son, Brian Cash — was listed as “undetermined.”
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The office previously stated foul play had been ruled out and that carbon monoxide poisoning also had been excluded. Other possibilities they were investigating included malnutrition and hypothermia.
The Cashes were each found in sleeping bags in multiple layers of clothes, Sally Ann and her son in the second-floor bedroom and Paul in a bedroom above the garage, according to court documents and police.
Lt. Thomas Ehret, commanding officer of the Western District Major Crime Squad, said its unknown if the Cashes had heat or water in the home.
Ehret said the only thing edible or drinkable in the home was powdered milk.
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“There was no food in the home, at all,” Ehret said. “We can’t say whether or not that malnutrition contributed to it or it was the cause of death.”
Ehret used the circumstances of the Cash family to ask residents in the state who are in need or if someone knows someone in need, whether its food, water, heat or mental health services, to call 211.
Sally Ann Cash and her son were identified by the medical examiner’s office weeks after the discovery, but Paul Cash, who was born and raised in England, took almost two months.
Medical examiner documents filed in court stated dental records from the Royal Air Force from the 1980s and 1990s, were compared to post-mortem X-rays.
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State police detectives described a home filled with clutter and rooms that were disorganized. In the living room, there was a large pile of garbage bags filled with unknown items, the warrant stated.
Ehret wouldn’t characterize the home as a hoarding situation, but said it was consistent with a family “who lived a secluded lifestyle.”
Aside from the last contact with Sally Ann, there was “nothing that we could find” from evidence inside the home and banking information to suggest how long the Cashes were alive, Ehret said.
The Cashes had no known social media presence and seem to have left little trace of their presence in town. No one in the home was registered to vote and Region 10 school officials said Brian Cash, who would have been 16 years old when he moved to Burlington in 2019, never was enrolled in the schools there.
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Ehret said its investigation determined the son was homeschooled.
“Everything that we know of, he was homeschooled through his whole life,” Ehret said.
The family was found on June 14, when the winning bidder of the foreclosure auction found the family’s remains when he entered the home through an unlocked window and went inside to inspect the home, according to a search warrant application.
Paul and Sally Cash moved to Burlington in 2019. The couple, who were married in 1998, purchased the home in September of that year for $535,000, according to town records. The couple took out a $385,000 mortgage on the property, according to town land records.
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Court records indicate no $3,255 mortgage payment was made since December 2024, and the foreclosure process started in August 2025. The last property tax payment made to the Town of Burlington was made on Dec. 18, 2025, according municipal tax records. It’s unknown if that property tax payment was made by the Cashes or their mortgage company.
In search warrants affidavits, state police detectives described a home filled with clutter and rooms that were disorganized. In the living room, there was a large pile of garbage bags filled with unknown items, the warrant stated.
