Widow says painter took money and left

New Haven (WTNH) - A widow claims a painter, who was hired while her husband was alive, has not finished the job now that her husband has died.

Friday, October 16, marks the one-year anniversary of the sudden death of Maureen Lynch's husband.

The New Haven couple had been getting some work done on their house but that came to a screeching halt. Now, she wants answers and the work continued.

The windows were replaced and they looked good, so Maureen and her husband Mike asked the same contractor, Mark Nash of Cheshire, to replace the gutters and re-paint the house.

"I didn't know Mr. Nash before this but my husband's family did," said Maureen.

Nash hired a sub-contractor, a painter, who stripped off the paint and put on primer but that was it. He also replaced the gutters. Now, every time it rains, it pours down the sides of the house.

And the house has had just primer for well over a year.

"Out in the back, I see buckling," said Maureen.

It's down to the bare wood in patches which she's afraid will now rot. But worse than all this, the personal insult she feels.

"What's the most surprising part about it all is that if my husband was alive, I'm sure he wouldn't be doing this to me, I'm almost positive," she said.

Her husband, Mike, had been dealing with the renovations. When he passed away suddenly, Maureen tried to take over.

"I started calling Mark and he did not answer the telephone," said Maureen.

In the midst of her grieving, she got nothing but the run-around. News Channel 8 went in search of Nash but couldn't get in touch with him; there's only a P.O. Box listed as his address and a message, left on his phone, went unanswered.

Maureen has paid over $12,000 and said she's not giving up.

"It's tough being a woman because they kind of walk all over you. Now, I know that sounds sexist and everything but, for the most part, it's very true," she said.

Nash, the contractor, did send another painter out to the house this past summer; he checked it out but never came back and never did any work.

Maureen paid for the work in full more than a year and a half ago. News Channel 8 will continue to follow up and try to find Nash and get this matter resolved.