close
close

The body parts found in the Colorado freezer belong to a 16-year-old girl who was last seen in 2005


The body parts found in the Colorado freezer belong to a 16-year-old girl who was last seen in 2005

Body parts found in a freezer after the sale of a Colorado home earlier this year have been identified as those of the home's previous owner's 16-year-old daughter, authorities said Friday.

The death of Amanda Leariel Overstreet is being investigated as a homicide and the investigation is ongoing, the Mesa County Sheriff's Office said.

The grim discovery was made in January after the home near Grand Junction was sold to a new owner who provided an abandoned freezer for free, the sheriff's office said.

Inside the freezer was a head and forearms with hands attached. Officers were called on January 12 after the person claiming the freezer made the discovery.

The last time Amanda was seen or heard from was in April 2005, the sheriff's office said.

“The circumstances of her disappearance remain under investigation and forensic evidence is being reviewed on an ongoing basis,” the sheriff’s office said in a statement about the case. “There is no record of Amanda Overstreet ever being reported missing.”

The Mesa County coroner's office said Friday that the remains had been identified and that the manner of death was being investigated as a homicide. The rest of her body has not been found.

The coroner's office did not provide a cause of death but said an ongoing investigation was ongoing and no further details would be released. DNA analysis helped confirm the identification, the office said.

Amanda lived in the Grand Junction and Harris County, Texas, areas, the coroner's office said.

The sheriff's office reiterated Friday that the home is under new ownership and the home's current owner is “completely unrelated to the previous case.”

“The home was purchased, completely remodeled and sold to the current owner,” the sheriff’s office said.

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *