A Brooklyn woman has been charged after authorities said they discovered a severed head and other body parts inside her taped-up fridge and freezer.
Authorities charged Heather Stines, 45, of Flatbush with concealment of a corpse Wednesday, according to the New York Police Department. The NYPD responded to a wellness check at Stines’ apartment two days earlier, where they discovered the body parts in black bags inside her refrigerator and freezer.
Using fingerprints, authorities later identified the body as that of Kawsheen Gelzer, 40, an alleged drug dealer who had been missing for months. Stines told authorities that her husband, who has been in a Virginia jail since September for a separate offense, killed and dismembered Gelzer, police said.
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Neighbors told the New York Post that when they visited Stines in her apartment, they were not allowed to go anywhere near the kitchen or the fridge.
“Everybody in the building knew it,” one of the tenants in Stines’ building told the Post. “Everybody knew he went in there and never came back out. We all talked about it.”
A Crime Stoppers tip about a possible body stored in the building initally prompted police to investigate on Monday. Stines received a psychiatric evaluation and remains in police custody as authorities continue to investigate the extent of her involvement in the crime.
