Everyone across the globe has had a freezer or knows what it is. A freezer holds ingredients waiting to be used for delicious food, persevering leftovers from a night out to be reheated, and allowing foods to have a longer life without rotting. But no one could understand how a man from the beautiful and vibrant community in Tempe, Arizona, had a disturbing truth hidden in his freezer. 

That man was Joseph Hill. Joseph was beloved by all members of his neighborhood but police received a notice of a suspicious freezer in his backyard. The freezer was covered in blankets and tarps. 

Police searched Joseph’s home and uncovered the remains of Joseph Hill’s elder father in the freezer in the backyard.  Joseph was taken into custody and questioned. 

Joseph told police his elderly father died on the property four years ago, and the next Hill brought a freezer with the idea of preserving his father until Joseph could bury him in the area of land in Strawberry, Arizona his father bought. 

Joseph Hill was also questioned by police as to why was not reporting his father’s death. The reason for not wanting to report his father’s death was because he didn’t want to lose the home in his father’s name or his father’s social security benefits.

Over those four years, Joseph moved from the Tempe and Strawberry Residence because of power outages from local fires. He was causing the freezer to move with him wherever he went. Joseph admitted to attempting to bury the freezer out in the desert but avoided claiming that many people go into the desert constantly.

Leaving people to wonder if police had never received that tip would Joseph Hill’s father’s remains have ever been found inside of that freezer?