Severed head found in freezer by woman who thinks it’s a relative, Pennsylvania cops say

A severed head was discovered in a Pennsylvania home Wednesday by a woman who thinks it was of one of her family members, Pennsylvania cops say.

When officers in Lancaster went to the home, they learned a man who lived there also kept a “cadaver doll” that looked like his father in one of the bedrooms, according to a news release from the Lancaster Bureau of Police.

The woman told officers she was “concerned for the welfare of family members” when Donald Meshey Jr. told her there was a head in the freezer and a cadaver in a bedroom. When she opened the freezer, she found a head of whom she believed was one of her relatives.

Meshey let officers inside the home and removed the head from the freezer to show officers, police said. As he was interviewed at the police station later, the man informed officers of the “cadaver doll” in his dad’s bedroom.

“Meshey admitted to stabbing the cadaver doll for 2-3 minutes with a knife and then dismembered the body,” according to police.

The coroner’s office determined Thursday that the body parts belonged to 67-year-old Donald Meshey, Meshey Jr’s father, WGAL reported.

According to court documents obtained by the TV station, the son put his dad’s other body parts in garbage bags and placed them in the basement. He used a hand saw to dismember the body, according to WGAL.

He moved his father’s head from the basement into the freezer on Wednesday, shortly before the woman discovered it, Lancaster Online reported. The torso had been placed in a vehicle parked outside the home, according to the newspaper.

The son has been charged with criminal homicide, abuse of a corpse and tampering with physical evidence, police said.

Lancaster is about 70 miles west of Philadelphia.

This story was originally published August 12, 2021 at 7:38 AM with the headline "Severed head found in freezer by woman who thinks it’s a relative, Pennsylvania cops say."