The San Diego Police Department (SDPD) announced that the body of a woman whose body was found stuffed in a freezer last month may have been missing or dead for up to nine years.
The body of Mary Margaret Haxby Jones, who police said was 81 years old at the time of her discovery, was discovered by an out-of-town family member visiting a home in the 4900 block of Zion Street, about 10 miles away. Northeast of downtown San Diego, California.
SDPD said in a statement Thursday that a family called police around 11:45 a.m. Dec. 22 after coming across the surprising find in a chest freezer. Based on the unusual location of the senior's body, the San Diego Police Department Homicide Unit was called in to investigate.
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Mary Margaret Haxby-Jones' body was discovered by an out-of-town family visiting her Zion Avenue home. (St. Petersburg)
Police said Haxby-Jones, described as a white woman, lived at the residence.
SDPD said the cause of death has not been determined and the investigation by the medical examiner's office continues.
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There were no obvious signs of trauma to the body, and police said the death was being investigated as suspicious.
Based on the investigation to that point, detectives believe Haxby-Jones may have been missing or dead for up to nine years. Detectives are interested in speaking to anyone who may know her or have relevant information about her.
It's unclear who currently lives at the Zion Street residence where the body was found.
San Diego police announced last month that the body of a woman who had been missing or possibly dead for nearly a decade was found stuffed in a freezer in a San Diego home. (Google Maps)
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Former homicide detective Pete Carrillo told Fox 5 San Diego that investigators will likely look into Haxby-Jones' financial records.
“This is appropriation of a dead body. When someone dies, there is an obligation to report it to the authorities so that it can be disposed of in the normal way,” Carrillo said.
“The whole process was circumvented for a specific reason, and we can only assume that it was probably to benefit financially from not reporting her death.”
The map pinpoints the 4900 block of Zion Avenue, about 16 miles northeast of downtown San Diego, California, where the woman's body was discovered. (Google Maps)
