Current:Home > NewsThey found a head in her fridge. She blamed her husband. Now she's charged in the case. -ChatGPT
They found a head in her fridge. She blamed her husband. Now she's charged in the case.
View
Date:2025-04-16 10:03:04
A New York City woman previously taken for a psychiatric evaluation after police said they found human remains including a man's head in a taped up refrigerator in her home was due in court Monday after being arrested in connection to the grisly discovery.
Heather Stines, 45, of Brooklyn, is charged with concealment of a human corpse after body parts were discovered at her apartment in the city's in East Flatbush neighborhood in the city's southeast area, a New York City Police Department spokesperson confirmed to USA TODAY on Monday.
According to police, officers responded to the home for a welfare check just after 7 p.m. on Jan 22 and "observed an unconscious and unresponsive unidentified male inside the apartment."
Paramedics pronounced the man dead on scene, police said, and as of Monday, the New York City' medical examiner's office had not yet determined the man's cause of death, a police spokesperson told USA TODAY.
The case also remained active, police said, and remained under investigation.
Human remains found in freezer:Police investigating homicide after human remains found in freezer of Colorado home
Victim identified through fingerprints as Kawsheen Gelzer
Officials confirmed the victim was identified by the medical examiner through fingerprints as Kawsheen Gelzer.
Online records show Gelzer was age 40 when he died and was a registered sex offender.
'Without ventilation and without water':Man opens emergency exit door on plane, walks out onto wing before takeoff
A tip, a welfare check and an arrest
Police have not yet said how long they believe the body had been in the fridge.
Officers initially responded to a tip from someone who said they saw what appeared to be a human head in a black bag in the refrigerator of Stines' home, according to court records and information obtained by the New York Times and the Associated Press.
USA TODAY has requested the police report from the Kings County Criminal Court clerk's office, where online records show it was filed.
When officers visited Stines' home, the Associated Press reported, they found multiple black bags in the refrigerator and freezer full of body parts.
"The refrigerator was taped shut at the time," Joseph E. Kenny, NYPD chief of detectives, said after the find the Times reported and − according to the police report, Stines pleaded with the officers not to open it."
According to police, Stines told detectives the body had been in the fridge "for several months" and belonged to a man who her husband had an argument with over drugs in September, the Times reported. The woman allegedly told investigators her husband killed the man and put his body in their refrigerator.
Two days after the body was found, on Jan. 24, police said they arrested Wells in connection to the finding.
After her arrest, Stine was taken for a psychiatric evaluation at a local hospital then was later booked into jail.
So far no other arrests made in case
As of Monday, police told USA TODAY no other arrests had been made in the case.
The suspect's 79-year-old aunt, Aime Stines, told the Times her niece moved to New York City around eight years ago after her father died and had "a history of drug use but never appeared to be violent."
“There is no way − I couldn’t believe it,” Stines told the Times she recalled after her niece’s arrest. “Heather was always smiling and talking. She has this voice where she talks so fast that I can hardly understand her. She always seemed happy.”
A $50,000 bond and a not guilty plea
Court records show Stines pleaded not guilty to the charge in Brooklyn Criminal Court on Jan. 25 and was set to reappear in court Monday in connection to the case.
Records also show Stines remained in custody on $50,000 bond on Monday.
USA TODAY has reached out to Stines' attorney.
Natalie Neysa Alund is a senior reporter for USA TODAY. Reach her at nalund@usatoday.com and follow her on X @nataliealund.
veryGood! (73)
Related
- Can Bill Belichick turn North Carolina into a winner? At 72, he's chasing one last high
- Amazon Prime Day Is Starting Early With This Unreal Deal on the Insignia Fire TV With 5,500+ Rave Reviews
- How to file your tax returns: 6 things you should know this year
- One-third of Americans under heat alerts as extreme temperatures spread from Southwest to California
- McKinsey to pay $650 million after advising opioid maker on how to 'turbocharge' sales
- Latto Shares Why She Hired a Trainer to Maintain Her BBL and Liposuction Surgeries
- With layoffs, NPR becomes latest media outlet to cut jobs
- The Home Depot says it is spending $1 billion to raise its starting wage to $15
- Warm inflation data keep S&P 500, Dow, Nasdaq under wraps before Fed meeting next week
- US Blocks Illegal Imports of Climate Damaging Refrigerants With New Rules
Ranking
- Why Sean "Diddy" Combs Is Being Given a Laptop in Jail Amid Witness Intimidation Fears
- A power outage at a JFK Airport terminal disrupts flights
- Fossil Fuel Companies Took Billions in U.S. Coronavirus Relief Funds but Still Cut Nearly 60,000 Jobs
- What to know about the train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio
- Civic engagement nonprofits say democracy needs support in between big elections. Do funders agree?
- Hilaria Baldwin Admits She's Sometimes Alec Baldwin's Mommy
- And Just Like That, the Secret to Sarah Jessica Parker's Glowy Skin Revealed
- Arizona GOP Rep. Eli Crane says he misspoke when he referred to colored people on House floor
Recommendation
Mets have visions of grandeur, and a dynasty, with Juan Soto as major catalyst
Only Doja Cat Could Kick Off Summer With a Scary Vampire Look
Air India orders a record 470 Boeing and Airbus aircrafts
André Leon Talley's belongings, including capes and art, net $3.5 million at auction
Military service academies see drop in reported sexual assaults after alarming surge
As the US Rushes After the Minerals for the Energy Transition, a 150-Year-Old Law Allows Mining Companies Free Rein on Public Lands
André Leon Talley's belongings, including capes and art, net $3.5 million at auction
Soccer Star Neymar Pens Public Apology to Pregnant Girlfriend Bruna Biancardi for His “Mistakes