US Arizona man kept father’s body in freezer for years to collect social security checks

An Arizona man is accused of hiding his father’s corpse in a backyard freezer for four years while continuing to collect his social security checks.

Joseph Hill Jr, 51, was investigated after police received a tip on October 22 regarding a possible body hidden in his garden. When officers attempted to approach the freezer, Hill initially refused to let them near it. However, they eventually obtained access and discovered human remains believed to be his father’s, as reported by ABC 15 Arizona.

Investigators secured a search warrant for Hill’s home in Arizona’s Tempe, and when they returned days later, they found the freezer sealed with duct tape, plastic wrap, blankets, and tarps. Hill told detectives that his father had died at home four years ago, prompting him to purchase the freezer to store the remains.

He did not report his father’s death because he was not named on the property deed and feared losing their home.

Inside the unplugged freezer, police found skeletal remains that had been left for several months. Hill claimed he had moved the freezer multiple times over the years, insisting that he intended to bury his father either on a plot of land or in the desert.

He continued to cash his father’s social security checks until last year.

Hill was arrested on November 1 and charged with hiding a body and failing to report a death, according to court documents. He is currently being held in Maricopa County Jail with a cash bail set at $25,000.

An autopsy is underway to formally identify the remains and determine the cause of death. Hill’s preliminary hearing is scheduled for November 4.