They came by the thousands, from people who believed they were the missing heir. They sent letters, old photos and handmade family trees.
None of them could prove it.
In October 2013, a man came forward with a will he said Blum had signed. It left everything to him. He was a disbarred lawyer, and the court later threw his claim out.
Then a woman named Teresa Musial brought a different kind of document to the Staten Island court. It was dated 1987, and it was written as a letter.
There were reasons for doubt. Both witnesses named on it had died. And no copy had turned up among Blum's papers. "You'd think you'd keep a copy when you have all of this money," the public administrator said.
But the words were hard to forget.
"I give all my estate after my death," it reportedly read, "to my beloved Helen Pietrucha."