Police: Man Hid Wife’s Body In Freezer

**Whisper** · September 19th, 2009, 05:18 PM

LAS VEGAS --

A Las Vegas man who confessed killing his wife in a letter to police kept her body in a freezer for two years.

That’s according to Metro officers who read the letter before finding two bodies Thursday in a home on Willowbark Court in the southwest part of town.

Police said the man shot himself in a bedroom closet. The woman was found in a freezer, completely frozen.The couple’s identities have not been released, but neighbors told FOX5 the woman was from another country. Authorities suspect she had no local relatives, a likely reason no missing person’s report was ever filed when she disappeared.

The handwritten letter containing the confession was postmarked four days ago. Police said the man wrote about killing himself but did not release any other details.

Link To Economic Woes?

It’s a fair question to ask in the wake of four murder-suicides spanning a two-week period: Is the economy driving family members to commit violence?

The answer, according to one psychiatrist, is yes and no.

“I remember eight or nine years ago when the dot-com bubble burst, it seemed like a rash of people had violent reactions in their places of employment,” said Dr. Ole Thienhaus, Dean of the University of the Nevada School of Medicine.

Nevada’s unemployment rate reached a new record Friday, putting an added stress on families where one person or both may be out of work.

However, the recent incidents of violence, Thienhaus cautioned, should be put into perspective.

“Four cases in a city of one million is still a very, very small portion of people. And each case is probably quite different.

http://www.fox5vegas.com/news/20991689/detail.html

**Kimberix** · September 19th, 2009, 08:04 PM

poor woman, to be taken from your homeland to come to the "Land of Oppurtunity" only to end up like that. jesus.

**Thinkgoat** · September 19th, 2009, 08:20 PM

I need names!!!! More info!!

**Thinkgoat** · September 19th, 2009, 08:27 PM

Officers responded about 1:52 p.m. Thursday to the home in the 1500 block of Willowbark Court near West Charleston Boulevard and Fort Apache Road to conduct a welfare check. After getting no response from knocking, they needed a locksmith to get in the front door, police said today.

The Metro Police Records Bureau had received a letter Thursday from the deceased woman's husband indicating he had harmed himself and his wife, police said.

Officers found the man believed to be the woman's husband in a master bedroom closet, police said. He died from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound.

After finding the man, police then discovered the woman inside a freezer in a nearby room. Homicide detectives said the woman had been in the freezer for 18 months to two years.

The man’s daughter arrived in Las Vegas Friday afternoon. Felicia Borla of the Clark County Coroner’s Office said the daughter might not be able to help provide a positive identification of the man because of the gunshot wound.

The identities of both people and the exact cause and manner of death will be released by the Clark County Coroner's Office.

When Borla arrived at the house today she sifted through boxes stacked in the front room of the house. After several hours, she said she discovered the man’s dentist. She said she contacted the dentist’s office and will be receiving his dental records soon.

As for the woman, Borla said identifying her could take longer because of the frozen state of the body.

http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2009...h-note-police/

**Whisper** · September 19th, 2009, 09:58 PM

ask TT she lives there

**totallytoddler** · September 19th, 2009, 10:15 PM

Well the house they were found in is listed under the name Veronica Tran. And the wife was Vietnamese. Other than that....I don't see names yet. And they were an older couple.

LAS VEGAS, Nv -- There have been four murder suicide attempts just in the last two weeks, but the latest one comes with a gruesome twist. Metro says a husband killed his wife and kept her body in a freezer for long as two years.

Police say they had received a letter from a man who claimed to have harmed his wife and planned to end his life. Officers responded to the man's house at Charleston and Fort Apache and found it locked with no one answering the door. Police called a locksmith and made entry into the home.

After a short search the found a man dead in the master bedroom closet from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound. They also found a woman dead and stuffed in a freezer. The woman is believed to be the man's wife and appears to have been killed more than a year ago.

"That's scary how you can kill your wife and leave her there for two years then come back and kill yourself," said Anthony Tomaio, neighbor.
Neighbors tell Eyewitness News that the home was vacant most of the time. They knew an elderly couple lived here, but also heard they traveled out of the country frequently.

"The guy was a mystery man. We never saw him. Last time I saw him was two years ago," said neighbor Lennie Cardello.

Metro says the husband mailed the police records department a letter which was received Thursday.

"I've been married for 40 years and I would never think about doing something like that. It's hard to think someone can get to their wits end to do this," said neighbor Chris Garcia.

There is now a deadbolt on the front door of the house and no one is allowed inside. The couple has yet to be identified. Neighbors say the wife was from Vietnam and that she most likely did not have any family or friends in Las Vegas. Officials are now trying to locate relatives of the couple. The house is listed to someone under the name of Veronica Tran.

Video at link:
http://www.lasvegasnow.com/global/story.asp?s=11153078

**Thinkgoat** · September 19th, 2009, 10:50 PM

Awesome Whispers and TT - Reps all the way around!

**Thinkgoat** · September 19th, 2009, 11:38 PM

Authorities said they discovered the apparent murder-suicide Thursday in the gated Peccole Ranch community after receiving the suicide note in the mail from Mark Helwig. He wrote that he had killed his wife two years earlier and couldn't stand to move her body from the house.

Helwig was found in a closet of the master bedroom with a gunshot wound to the head, while his wife was found stuffed in a freezer in an adjoining bedroom.

"We have no idea why he did it," police Lt. Lew Roberts said.

The wife's name wasn't immediately released by police. The couple's ages also were not immediately available, but neighbors described them as older.

Neighbors said Helwig had a job with the government or a government contractor that would take him to Southeast Asia for months at a time. He was absent so much that his neighbors talked about it.

http://www.kolotv.com/home/headlines/59874367.html

**Cockroach** · September 20th, 2009, 05:22 AM

And none of these neighbors thought any of this was odd? That they hadn't seen the wife in a long time, that they had not been seen together? I don't know the area, but they talked to some neighbors and they all all agreed it was strange but not strange enough actually do anything. Hmm. I hope I'm a better neighbor. But who knows until something actually happens.