cnn
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A man in Arizona told detectives he put his deceased father’s body in a freezer and moved it around the state for four years, all to keep a roof over his head, police say.

Joseph Hill was arrested last week on multiple charges, including hiding a body in his backyard and failing to report the death of someone who was not under the care of a health care provider, according to police. CNN has reached out to the Maricopa County Public Defender’s Office for comment.

Bail was set at $25,000 for his release, according to the final release order in the case. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for Nov. 4.

According to court documents obtained by CNN, Tempe police received an online tip on Oct. 22 alleging that the 51-year-old Arizona native was keeping his dead father, Joseph Hill Sr., in a freezer in his backyard. his residence. The advice described that the freezer would be covered with a tarp and blankets.

Police visited Hill at his home the same day, but were prohibited from inspecting the freezer, according to a probable cause statement in the documents. The defendant claimed that his father had died in Oregon four years ago.

Detectives on the case attempted to verify Hill Sr.’s death record but were unable to do so, according to the release. Instead, they found records showing that Hill’s father still owned the home and was collecting Social Security benefits through March 2023.

Detectives arrived at Hill’s residence days later after obtaining a search warrant, according to the release. Explaining the terms of the order, Hill’s “demeanor began to change,” police said, and he revealed that there would be “something in the freezer.”

After being read his Miranda Rights, Hill told police that his father died at the residence four years ago, according to the release. The next day, he said he bought a freezer with the intention of eventually burying his father on land he bought in Strawberry, Arizona, according to the documents.

Hill told police he did not want to report Hill Sr.’s death because it was not listed on the deed to the Tempe home and he feared losing his residence, according to the release.

For the past four years, Hill said he lost power intermittently at both his Strawberry home and his residence in Tempe due to fires, requiring him to move his freezer, according to the release. On several occasions, Hill also attempted to bury the freezer in the desert, but claimed “there were always people out there,” according to the documents.

The freezer has been sitting in his backyard, without power, for approximately four to six months, according to the release. Detectives removed layers of tarp, blankets, cling film and duct tape to find human skeletal remains in the freezer, as well as a “large amount of biological matter,” according to the documents.

The Maricopa County Medical Examiner’s Office has not yet released an autopsy report determining Hill Sr.’s cause of death.