Arizona Man Stored Dead Father In Backyard Freezer For FOUR YEARS Because He Was Scared Of THIS!

[Warning: Potentially Triggering Content]

An Arizona man is in jail after police say he stored his father’s dead body in a freezer in the backyard of his home… for FOUR YEARS! And during a significant portion of that time, the freezer apparently wasn’t even plugged into an outlet. Ew…

On Friday, Joseph Daniel Hill Jr. (pictured above, inset, in his mugshot) was arrested by cops in Tempe, Arizona and charged with failing to report a death and concealing a dead body. Now, per multiple local media reports, authorities know what was going on: Joseph Daniel Hill Sr. died four years ago, but the younger man simply never reported the death.

Related: Teen Allegedly Fatally Stabbed Elderly Landlord And Showed Sister The Body On Video Call

According to Fox 10 News, the elder Hill died at some point in 2020 inside the home. That home has been in the family for years; police say it was where the (younger) 51-year-old Hill had grown up. But the younger Hill was scared that he was going to lose the house after his father’s death because his name wasn’t listed on the property deed. So, not wanting to lose his childhood home, the younger man simply never reported his dad’s death to anyone.

For four long years, he got away with it. But last Tuesday, according to CNN, cops in Tempe were tipped off by some unnamed source that Hill was keeping his father’s corpse in a freezer in the backyard. When officers showed up the first time, Hill denied doing so. Instead, he claimed that his father had indeed died four years before — in Oregon.

The responding officers passed the case off to detectives, who started looking into it more deeply. They couldn’t find any death records for Hill Sr. in Oregon or anywhere else. But they did find that his Social Security benefits had gone on being collected up through March of 2023. Uh-oh… Sounds like fraud…

Armed with a search warrant and increasing suspicion, detectives returned to the home on Friday. There, per the police affidavit later revealed by AZFamily News and others, Hill’s “demeanor began to change.” When detectives pushed, the man cryptically told them “there was going to be something in the freezer.”

Per the arrest report, the freezer hadn’t even been plugged into a power source for at least the last four to six months. And when detectives opened it, they received the most horrific shock we can possibly imagine. The affidavit noted there was a body inside, in “skeletal condition” but with an “extensive amount of biological matter.” It had been wrapped up in multiple layers of duct tape, bed sheets, two blankets, several layers of Saran Wrap, and a tarp.

OMG!!!

How disgusting. It would have been less horrifying if he’d just buried the man in the yard, at least he would have decomposed properly. Oof.

With the secret finally out after four years, Hill started to come clean.

Per court docs, he told detectives that he had bought the freezer the day after his father died. Initially, he planned to take his father’s corpse up to the small town of Strawberry, a few hours north of Phoenix, and bury him there on a plot of land that he’d purchased. But a fire broke out at that property while they were there way back in 2020, and the place lost power.

So, the man apparently returned home with his dad’s corpse and put the freezer to use. And then, in June 2023, Fox 10 News and other local outlets report another fire broke out at the Hill family house in Tempe, affecting the power supply there, too. After that, Hill told police that he kept trying to bury his dad way out in the desert, but “there were always people there.”

Creepy AF…

Now, Hill remains in jail on a $25,000 bond. He’ll have a preliminary hearing on these charges next Monday, per People.

You can watch more about this shocking and unsettling case (below):

Thoughts? Reactions? Share ’em (below)…

[Image via Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office]