Man's Body Found Inside Dead Woman's Freezer May Have Been There for over a Decade, Utah Police Say

The body of a man that was found in a deceased woman's deep freezer in Utah last week may have been there for over a decade, police say.

The remains of both individuals were found by officers from the Tooele City Police Department, who responded to Remington Park Apartments located at 495 West Utah Avenue at roughly 11 a.m. last Friday to conduct a welfare check on an elderly 75-year-old woman.

Sgt. Jeremy Hansen said yesterday a building maintenance worker called to report the woman had not been seen in about two weeks, ABC4 reported.

The apartment worker let an officer into the home, where the woman was found dead on her bed.

A detective who responded to the residence looked inside the chest freezer as part of the preliminary investigation, where he found the man's remains.

The deceased elderly woman was identified as Jeanne Souron-Mathers, Fox 13 reported. Police said there had been no signs of trauma on her body, but stressed that the probe is ongoing.

"Foul play is suspected," Hansen told ABC4, referencing the body in the freezer. "Both bodies were taken by the medical examiner's office for autopsy.

"There was no visible trauma on the female but with the male being in the freezer both bodies went to the ME. We are still waiting for the... report and the autopsy to be done on the male and [then] we can find out if there was a trauma to his body and try to figure out how he died."

Officers who interviewed local residents said they had obtained conflicting information about when a man had last been seen at the apartment, meaning the timeline was broad. Authorities suspect the body could have been in the freezer for between a year-and-a-half and 11 years.

Hansen told local media that the deceased woman's family have been informed of the death and confirmed the man's body was "fully intact" when discovered in the appliance.

According to Fox 13, Souron-Mathers lived in the apartment since December 2007. It reported she was previously married and a man's name was listed on the lease. A neighbor, named as Emily Walker, told local outlet KSL that the elderly woman had been wheelchair-bound.

Police confirmed officers were aware of the victim before her death, with Hansen telling Fox 13 an earlier welfare check had been conducted a couple of weeks ago. "I've been here for 13 years, and this is one of the strangest cases," he said. "We've never had anything like this."

The Remington Park Apartments complex consists of 41 one-bed units and 21 two-bed units, its website says. Tooele, in Tooele County, has a population of approximately 32,000 people.