Doctors say a Tempe man kept his father’s body in a backyard freezer to avoid losing his home

TEMPE, AZ (AZFamily) — A Tempe man faces charges after allegedly hiding his father’s body stored in a home freezer for years because he didn’t want to lose his home.

Joseph Daniel Hill Jr., 51, is in jail on one count of failure to report a death and one count of concealment of a dead body.

On Tuesday, Tempe police received an online tip that a man had stored his father’s body in a walk-in freezer behind a home on Dorsey Lane, near Base Road and McClintock Drive. Officers went to the home and spoke with Hill, who reportedly said his father died four years ago in Oregon.

Court documents say Hill declined officers’ requests to check a freezer in the backyard and the case was turned over to detectives for further action.

Joseph Daniel Hill Jr. He reportedly told Tempe police that he kept his father's body in... — Joseph Daniel Hill Jr. he reportedly told Tempe police that he kept his father’s body in the freezer for years because he was afraid of losing his home.(Arizona Family/Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office)

Investigators used “extensive resources” to learn more about Joseph Hill Sr., but found no record of his death. Detectives determined that Hill Sr. was still listed as a homeowner and receiving Social Security benefits until March 2023.

On Friday, detectives obtained a search warrant and returned to the home. The documents show that Hill Jr.’s behavior changed and told police “there will be something in the freezer.”

In the backyard, detectives retrieved a tarp, two moving blankets, several layers of saran wrap, sheets, two ratchet straps and multiple layers of duct tape from the freezer. The documents show that police found skeletal remains and “a large amount of biological matter” inside.

After reading the Miranda Rights, the man reportedly told detectives he was there when his father “took his last breath” at home more than four years ago. The documents show he admitted not reporting the death because he was unregistered and was afraid of losing his home.

The documents show that he bought a freezer the day after his father’s death and planned to bury him on the purchased plot in Truskawka. But he said there was a fire on the property and he lost power, so he eventually brought the freezer back to Tempe.

Hill Jr. he reportedly said that in June 2023, a fire broke out in the Tempe home and the freezer lost power again. He continued by saying he loaded the freezer into his truck and took it to bury it in the desert several times, but “there were always people there.”

Documents show the freezer had been sitting in the yard without electricity for the past four to six months.

Hill Jr. he was arrested and later booked into the Maricopa County Jail.

It will now be up to the Maricopa County Medical Examiner’s Office to confirm whether the body is Hill Sr.’s and also try to determine how he died.

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