Man allegedly kept father’s decomposing body in freezer to avoid losing home, police say

TEMPE, Arizona. (KPHO/Gray News) – An Arizona man allegedly kept his father’s body in a backyard freezer for years because he didn’t want to lose his home.

Tempe police received an online tip that a man was storing his father’s body in a freezer behind the house.

When officers arrived, they spoke with Joseph Daniel Hill Jr., 51, who said his father died four years ago in Oregon.

Hill declined officers’ request to inspect the freezer in the backyard, and the case was turned over to detectives for further investigation, KPHO reported.

Investigators used “extensive resources” to learn more about Joseph Hill Sr. but were unable to find any records of his death.

Detectives determined that Hill Sr. was still listed as the owner of the home and that he was receiving Social Security benefits until March 2023.

Detectives obtained a search warrant and returned to the home.

According to the documents, Hill Jr.’s behavior changed and he told police, “There must have been something in the freezer.”

Once in the backyard, detectives removed a tarp, two moving blankets, several layers of saran wrap, bed sheets, two ratchet straps and several layers of duct tape from the freezer.

The documents say police found skeletal remains and a “massive amount of biological matter.”

After being read Miranda Rights, the man allegedly told detectives he was there when his father “took his last breath” in the house more than four years ago.

He allegedly admitted that he did not report the death because he was not present at the crime scene and was afraid of losing his home.

The next day after his father died, he bought a freezer. He said he planned to bury him on a plot of land he purchased, but he said there was a fire on the property and his power went out, so he ended up bringing the freezer back to Tempe.

The freezer has since been left in the backyard without power for the past four to six months, documents say.

He was arrested and charged with one count of failure to report a death and one count of concealing a corpse.

Now the Maricopa County Medical Examiner’s Office will have to confirm whether the body is Hill Sr.’s and try to determine how he died.

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