New Story. Nothing New.
Out-of-town family members find dead body in home freezer
One of the stories did say the freezer was inside the house.
However, this is the most decidedly "not going there" lack of coverage - even at Christmas - I've ever seen for an event.
48 hours - or close. NO! Bad math. Closer to 72 hours. Body reported before noon on Friday. 24 hours on Saturday, 48 and Sunday and 72 NOW -- Noon Monday or close now. Camera crew(s) has been out and talked to at least two neighbors.
Did no one think to ask if anyone was known to live in the house?
When the out-of-town guests showed up, was everyone accounted for?
Or had Aunt Sally vanished and it's possible the woman in the freezer will be Aunt Sally? Or do they have one body and 4 missing?
Maybe no one had lived in the house for years, since the owner died and was sensibly buried. Relatives had come into town to decide what to do with the property and discovered this nightmarish mystery. Body could be anyone from anywhere. Person stashing it had only to know the house was empty.
But, hey San Diego journalists -- even a young and inexperienced Nancy Drew would have uncovered more in this time than YOU have. No hungry journalists in San Diego? How about California? Why is the coverage on this so lacking? It has the possibilities of developing into a massive story - or fizzling completely. But you won't know 'til you dig in.
There's not much real time journalism in California, IMO. While television stringers usually have some background in journalism, they are usually young, inexperienced and IMO, chosen mainly for their looks and ability to report on the spot, not to do investigative journalism. In 2021 (last year for which I have data) there were 2,495 intentional homicides in California - and only a small fraction ever made it to Websleuths.
I don't personally post the murders from my own town (there was one last week) because I prefer not to be associated specifically with my own town. Two bodies discovered within a couple of miles of my house in the past year (there's a specific place where bodies sometimes turn up, not too far from the beach). Not only have I not posted about them - but there was virtually no journalism around any of these deaths.
Thing is, our local newspaper died 10 years ago and the name was purchased by the USA Today corporation. We've had at least 15 short term (young) reporters since then. This has happened all over and while the San Diego Union-Tribune appears to be a local paper, both it and the L.A. Times require a subscription to actually read local articles. There was apparently a murder in Lancaster recently - but only the Times is reporting on it (27 year old teacher) and an arrest has been made - it's behind a pay wall. But aside from having someone sitting at a desk check online police blotters, I doubt they have assigned a reporter to the story (too expensive).
I simply check Nextdoor and Twitter for my own local crime news - neither involves journalism. I have an IPC card myself, but do not work for any newspaper. I've thought about starting a crime-related publication now that I'm retired, but it wouldn't focus on local news stories.
Anyway, a mysterious body found in a freezer is just one of 50 or so weekly homicide stories (if it is a homicide). Missing person cases rarely make the news.
There are currently 3,362 people missing/open cases in California, most of them are not on WS and most do not have any MSM reporting them. FB and Nextdoor would be my only resources for finding those stories, although I do read news from the Sierra Nevada area, so occasionally post one of those stories (usually someone has beat me to it). I also look at NPS news from time to time. But unless there's something quirky about the case, there's no one doing ongoing coverage on these missing people and it just depends on exactly where they live whether there's even a newspaper available to cover the story. Exceptions include double homicides (or larger groups of victims). Any school shooting will of course make national news, as would any press release about a suspected serial killer (I just checked and we did have a suspected serial killer arrested in L.A. County in early December - I knew nothing about it, as I don't watch TV news!)
I keep trying to talk students into going into journalism - I think maybe 1 student in the past 5 years has considered it.
Just checked the local (USA Today-owned) paper and they have exactly 1 investigative journalist - who writes for as many as 10 papers. Her phone number is available for anyone to call if they have a lead. I doubt anyone has actually waded through the staff directory to try and find her and I don't see any stories about my locale or our county or the next two counties over by this person. She's a managing editor for another paper, is a freelance journalist, etc - and the stories she covers are all over the country. She's an investigative reporter for newspapers all along the West Coast (mostly Washington and California), but has also published in the WSJ. Her stories often have national interest (mostly in the arts, not in criminal investigative journalism).
Indeed, I depend on Websleuths to clue me in on what's happening in my part of the world!
JMO.