TEMPERATURE, AZ. (KPHO/Gray News) – An Arizona man allegedly kept his father’s body stored in a backyard freezer for years because he didn’t want to lose the house.

Tempe police received an online tip that a man was keeping his father’s body in a freezer behind a home.

When officers arrived, they spoke with Joseph Daniel Hill Jr., 51, who said his father died four years ago in Oregon.

Hill refused officers’ request to inspect the freezer in the backyard and the case was turned over to detectives for follow-up. KPHO reported.

Investigators used “extensive resources” to learn more about Joseph Hill Sr., but could find no record of his death.

Detectives found that Hill Sr. was still listed as the owner of the home and had collected Social Security benefits through March 2023.

Detectives obtained a search warrant and returned to the home.

According to the documents, Hill Jr.’s demeanor changed and he told police, “There’s going to be something in the freezer.”

Once in the backyard, detectives removed a tarp, two moving blankets, multiple layers of saran wrap, bedding, two ratchet straps, and multiple layers of duct tape from the freezer.

Inside, the documents said, police found skeletal remains and an “extensive amount of biological matter.”

After being read his Miranda rights, the man allegedly told detectives he was there when his father “took his last breath” at home more than four years ago.

He allegedly admitted that he did not report the death because he was not on duty and was afraid of losing his home.

After his father died, he bought the freezer the next day. He said he planned to bury it on a plot of land he bought, however he said there was a fire at the property and he lost power, so he ended up bringing the freezer back to Tempe.

Documents say the freezer has since been sitting in the backyard without power for the past four to six months.

He was arrested and charged with one count of failure to surrender a death and one count of concealing a corpse.

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

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