An Arizona man has been arrested after confessing to authorities that he had kept his deceased father's body in a freezer and moved it around the state for four years. The man, identified as a 51-year-old Arizona native, was charged with concealing a body in his backyard and failing to report the death of someone not under the care of a healthcare provider.
According to court documents, the investigation began when Tempe police received an online tip alleging that the man was storing his dead father in a freezer in the backyard of his residence. When police visited the man's home, he initially refused to allow them to inspect the freezer, claiming that his father had passed away in Oregon four years ago.
After obtaining a search warrant, detectives found human skeletal remains and biological matter in the freezer, which had been without power for several months. The man admitted to buying the freezer with the intention of eventually burying his father on a plot of land he owned in Strawberry, Arizona.
The man explained to police that he did not report his father's death because he was not on the deed of the home and feared losing his residence. He also mentioned that power outages at his properties had forced him to move the freezer around, and he had attempted to bury it in the desert on multiple occasions.
The Maricopa County Medical Examiner's Office is yet to release an autopsy report to determine the cause of the father's death. The man has been granted a bond of $25,000 for his release, with a preliminary hearing scheduled for November 4.
This bizarre case has shocked the community and raised questions about the man's motives for keeping his father's body in a freezer for such an extended period.
