An autopsy has been ordered on a body found in an abandoned refrigerator by a father and son who were scanning rural land with a metal detector in North Texas.
Investigators were called to the scene about 35 miles south of Dallas about 11 p.m. Monday, Ellis County Sheriff's Chief Deputy Dennis Brearley told the Waxahachie Daily Light. Investigators are looking into whether the remains are those of a 62-year-old Arlington man missing since May 6, Brearley said.
Two people have been charged with murder in the presumed death of the missing man, 62-year-old Jerry Roberts. A police welfare check at Roberts' Arlington home found him and his refrigerator missing from his Arlington home, and blood stains were found on a chair.
An Arlington police statement says a witness saw Roberts and 38-year-old roommate, Erin Leanne Guthrie, arguing the day before Roberts' disappearance. Security video showed Guthrie using Roberts' debit card at a Fort Worth convenience store the day after his disappearance.
The police statement says Guthrie's boyfriend, 43-year-old Thomas Eugene Dunham, was stopped by Alamosa, Colo., police on June 7 and was found to be driving Roberts' truck, which had been reported as stolen. Investigators say blood was found in the truck bed, and Guthrie was found at a nearby Colorado homeless shelter. Both were arrested and charged with murder.
Both remain in the Alamosa County Jail in Colorado with bail set at $500,000 pending extradition. Jail records showed no attorney.
