The head and hands of a 16-year-old girl who was last seen in 2005 have been found in a freezer by the new owner of a recently sold home who was receiving free appliances, police said.
The incident originally occurred nine months ago on January 12, when the Mesa County Sheriff’s Office in Colorado received a call about a “suspicious incident” in the 2900 block of Pinyon Avenue in Grand Junction, about 240 miles west of Denver near the Colorado border. Utah, according to a release from the Mesa County Sheriff’s Office.
“Upon arrival, deputies discovered that a human head and hands had been found in a freezer by someone who came to claim free appliances offered by the new owner of the home that had just been sold,” police said.
It took a nine-month investigation before the Mesa County Sheriff’s Office was able to release the identity of the victim in the Pinyon Avenue homicide case Friday.
“Through DNA testing, the victim is identified as Amanda Leariel Overstreet,” announced law enforcement. “Amanda is believed to have been approximately 16 years old at the time of her disappearance. Overstreet has not been seen or heard from since April 2005.”
Overstreet was the biological daughter of the home’s previous owner, police said, and the circumstances surrounding her disappearance remain under investigation, as well as forensic evidence.
Officials said there is no evidence that Amanda Overstreet ever went missing.
“The Mesa County Sheriff’s Office would like to emphasize that the home that was the focus of the Pinyon Avenue Homicide investigation is now under new ownership, completely unrelated to the previous case,” the Mesa County Sheriff’s Office said. “They bought the house, completely remodeled it and sold it to the current owner. We ask you to respect the privacy of the current owner and the neighbors and to avoid walking around the house or taking pictures.”
The investigation into Overstreet’s death is ongoing.
