Charming Ohio Couple Arrested Over Gruesome Contents of Freezer

In a bizarre tale out of Youngstown, Ohio, a man and his significant other have been arrested on the charge that they were storing the remains of his former girlfriend in a freezer.

31-year-old Arturo Novoa’s girlfriend went missing in mid-February, shortly before his new squeeze 34-year-old Katrina Layton moved in and began using the missing woman’s car, cellphone and taking care of her pet dog.

The remains of the missing woman were discovered by the wife of Mr. Novoa’s landlord after he had asked permission to store the padlocked freezer in their basement.

Via the Independent “Man ‘stashed remains of missing ex-girlfriend in a freezer’ he bought with his new partner”:

A man has been accused of hiding his former girlfriend’s body in a padlocked freezer he bought with his new partner, who then allegedly assumed the dead woman’s life.

Police in Youngstown, Ohio, said they had detained Arturo Novoa and Katrina Layton and were examining the human remains they discovered in the freezer of their home.

While the remains have not been formally identified, investigators believe they are of 28-year-old Shannon Graves, who was a girlfriend of Mr. Novoa and was last seen alive in February.

Ms.  Layton and Mr. Novoa have been charged with the abuse of a corpse, which was discovered on Saturday in several bags inside the freezer by Mr. Novoa’s landlord’s wife.

Reuters said Mr. Novoa had asked his landlord if he could move the freezer down to the landlord’s basement because his electricity had been shut off and “he didn’t want his freezer full of meat to spoil”, according to a police report.

“Basically, Miss Layton moved in with Mr Novoa and started living her life,” said Dana Lantz, the prosecutor. “She didn’t hold herself out to be Shannon, she just lived her life, using her phone, caring for her dog.”

The couple are being held in custody and are still to be appointed lawyers, Ms Lantz said. They could face additional charges once the identity of the body is confirmed, along with a cause of death.

The inquisitive wife became suspicious of the locked freezer and broke in to discover exactly what kind of “meat” that Novoa was worried about.

Police have yet to charge the couple with murder as the cause of death for the frozen victim has not yet been determined but it doesn’t take Lt. Columbo to see where this story is headed.