Homicide victims concealed in a freezer

Abstract

Freezing as a method for hiding a body is rare. We report here a homicide case in which three bodies were concealed in a freezer. This presented the pathologist with the problem of how to thaw the bodies and simultaneously avoid decomposition of the uppermost body. The problem was solved by slow thawing in a refrigerated morgue and by removing the bodies one after the other from top to bottom. The victims were a 27-year old mother and her two daughters, 7 and 9 years of age. The perpetrator was the 34-year old now-divorced husband and father. All were refugees from Syria. The perpetrator fled back to Syria. He was later arrested in Syria, confessed the crime and was sentenced to life imprisonment. The autopsy findings is discussed and compared to finding reported in the scientific literature.