Body parts found in a freezer earlier this year after a Colorado home was sold have been identified as those of the 16-year-old daughter of the home’s previous owner, authorities said Friday.
The death of Amanda Leariel Overstreet is being investigated as a homicide and an investigation is ongoing, according to the Mesa County Sheriff’s Office.
The grim discovery was made in January, after the home near Grand Junction was sold to a new owner, and after that owner offered a freezer that had been left 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 surrounding her disappearance remain under investigation, as well as ongoing forensic testing of evidence,” the sheriff’s office said in a statement on 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 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 list a cause of death but said an active investigation is ongoing and no further details will 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 has a new owner and that the home’s current owner is “completely unrelated to the previous case.”
“The home was purchased, completely renovated and sold to the current owner,” the sheriff’s office said.
This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
