Identified! CA - Out-of-town family finds unidentified body in freezer of home they were staying at - Dec 23, 2023 - Mary Margaret Haxby-Jones

[Izzylizzy]

LE actually waiting on the medical examiner?
What if it's inconclusive?
Even if Mary's death was from natural causes there's the not reporting it and abuse of her corpse.

June 21,2024...update:

"The grisly find was first reported to police at year's end: Mary Margaret Haxby-Jones' body, stiff with cold, frozen in a chest freezer.

Since then, the medical examiner has had custody of her corpse. During the past half-year, NBC San Diego has reached out nearly once a month out for an update and been told the case is sealed by the San Diego Police Department. For SDPD's part during the same time period, officials have said there will be no updates on the case until the medical examiner has determined a cause of death.

NBC 7 San Diego—Local News and Weather

San Diego News, Local News, Weather, Traffic, Entertainment, Breaking News

www.nbcsandiego.com

/news/local/six-months-after-woman-found-in-allied-gardens-freezer-new-info-about-husband/3545234/

 

[Izzylizzy]

How many tracks is/could Mary's death running on?

1. Cause of death.
2. Not registering death if it was natural.
3. Abuse of corpse.
4. SS payments
5. Military pension
6. Investments and dividends from investments
7. Forging her signature.
On and on.

After a Death Occurs: A Checklist

Visit the post for more.

legalvoice.org

 

[Sillybilly]

ADMIN NOTE:

Absolute confusion in this thread due to detailed discussion of the Amanda Overstreet case when this thread is dedicated to discussion of the now identified Mary Margaret Haxby-Jones case.

Numerous posts have been removed. If there are others we have missed, please us the Report feature to let us know.

Stay on topic or there may be a loss of posting privileges.

 

[Incredholt]

https://www.sandiego.gov/sites/default/files/2024-12/20241212-final-update-on-suspicious-death-in-allied-gardens.pdf

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Thursday, December 12, 2024



CONTACT: Lieutenant Jud Campbell at (619) 533-5752 or [email protected]

Final Update on Suspicious Death in Allied Gardens

​

San Diego – On Friday, December 22, 2023, at approximately 11:45 a.m., officers from Eastern Division responded to the 4900 block of Zion Avenue to investigate a report of death. Essentially, out-of-town family members were at a residence and located a dead body inside of a chest freezer. They immediately called police. Based on the unusual location of the body, the San Diego Police Homicide Unit was called to investigate.



Working with the Medical Examiner’s Office, detectives identified the body as Mary Margaret Haxby-Jones, a white female. She would have been 81-years-old at the time she was discovered. Detectives believe that she lived at the address on Zion Avenue prior to her death. They also believe, based on the totality of the investigation, that she may have been missing or dead for up to nine years.



The San Diego County Medical Examiner’s Office conducted a comprehensive investigation into the manner and cause of Haxby-Jones’s death. On December 11, 2024, Homicide Detectives received the autopsy report. The Medical Examiner concluded that the manner and cause of death are undetermined.



As the Medical Examiner’s investigation was occurring, Homicide detectives reached out to financial investigators at the federal level (Social Security and Veteran’s Affairs) suspecting that, even if the death was not a homicide, it might have been concealed so that Haxby-Jones’ benefits would continue to be paid. At this point, a criminal case of benefits fraud cannot be substantiated because it is unclear beyond a reasonable doubt exactly when Haxby-Jones died.



Detectives did determine that Haxby-Jones’s body was unlawfully placed in the freezer by her husband, Robert Haxby. This determination was made considering all of the facts gathered during the investigation, including interviews related to this case. Robert Haxby died on February 3, 2024.



At this point, based on the Medical Examiner’s conclusions and the investigative work performed by detectives, the suspicious death investigation is inactive pending any additional or new information brought forward.



Anyone with information regarding this incident can call the Homicide Unit at (619) 531-2293 or Crime Stoppers at (888) 580-8477.

 

[STLBlues]

Allied Gardens man, now dead, was the one who put his wife in the freezer years ago: SDPD

A neighbor told NBC 7 this week that Robert Haxby was hospitalized not long before out-of-town family members reporter the grisly discovery to police last December.

www.nbcsandiego.com

Among the most startling revelations was that detectives believe that Robert Haxby — the husband of Mary Margaret Haxby-Jones, who would have been 81 when she was found last Dec. 22 — was the one who put her in the freezer, and that, he, too, has since died. Haxby himself died last Feb. 3, police said in a news release sent out Thursday afternoon. They did not disclose his cause of death.

 

[DoctorRose]

So who actually lived at the house and why was the family visiting? That’s the part I’ve never understood.

 

[lisette]

So who actually lived at the house and why was the family visiting? That’s the part I’ve never understood.

According to the article, it sounds like the husband had a stroke and had to be hospitalized. That’s when the relatives came in, perhaps to take care of things at the house, and they discovered the body in the freezer.

 

[nhmemorymaker]

Allied Gardens man, now dead, was the one who put his wife in the freezer years ago: SDPD

A neighbor told NBC 7 this week that Robert Haxby was hospitalized not long before out-of-town family members reporter the grisly discovery to police last December.

www.nbcsandiego.com

Among the most startling revelations was that detectives believe that Robert Haxby — the husband of Mary Margaret Haxby-Jones, who would have been 81 when she was found last Dec. 22 — was the one who put her in the freezer, and that, he, too, has since died. Haxby himself died last Feb. 3, police said in a news release sent out Thursday afternoon. They did not disclose his cause of death.

I am still left with questions. I hope someone can remember more of the beginnings of the story to help me out.

"There's a son," the neighbor said. "He was there the day-of. He stayed and sat in front while the police talked to [his father]."
WHOSE son. I thought we had discovered that Mary had no children?
The "day-of" ?? The day of the discovery in the freezer? But was Robert Haxby even there at that time, as this statement says?
Because this earlier statement in the article says: Patricia said the situation inside the home in Allied Gardens began to unravel before the body's discovery when Haxby was taken to the hospital...

"There were relatives, after Bob went into the hospital, some relatives came by...and that's who found the body in the freezer.
So, if the relatives found the body, AND the "son" was there on the day-of...are they related?
And who gets the house?

I dunno... I still think there is something fishy about the son, but am sure they dont want to spend the money or use resources to investigate more.

 

[DoctorRose]

So who actually lived at the house and why was the family visiting? That’s the part I’ve never understood.

Ohh. JK. I was thinking the husband died the Feb before the relatives came. So he was living there but went to the hospital and then the relatives came.

 

[Kemug]

So did he have a son from a previous relationship?

 

[Bounceycat]

Family of San Diego woman found dead in freezer speaks out

Step-daughter of deceased woman discusses shocking discovery and unanswered questions surrounding the case

www.cbs8.com

My summary: Mary's step-daughter is interviewed. She says she and her father had been estranged, but flew in from Kentucky when Robert suffered a stroke in Dec 2023. "A friend of Robert's informed the family that Mary's body was in a freezer in the backyard." (Direct quote from the article...what friend? How and when did they get this knowledge? The article doesn't dig into this.) Police investigated whether this was benefits fraud, but could bring no charges because they couldn't determine when Mary died. Then, two months after the discovery, Robert died in Feb 2024. He was questioned by police prior to his death, but due to dementia, had no memory of putting Mary's body in the freezer.

 

[Andreee]

Family of San Diego woman found dead in freezer speaks out

Step-daughter of deceased woman discusses shocking discovery and unanswered questions surrounding the case

www.cbs8.com

My summary: Mary's step-daughter is interviewed. She says she and her father had been estranged, but flew in from Kentucky when Robert suffered a stroke in Dec 2023. "A friend of Robert's informed the family that Mary's body was in a freezer in the backyard." (Direct quote from the article...what friend? How and when did they get this knowledge? The article doesn't dig into this.) Police investigated whether this was benefits fraud, but could bring no charges because they couldn't determine when Mary died. Then, two months after the discovery, Robert died in Feb 2024. He was questioned by police prior to his death, but due to dementia, had no memory of putting Mary's body in the freezer.

So were Mary's benefits just continuing to be deposited into her bank account, and can't more info about that end of things reveal more, like was the money being spent, where, etc etc. What about income tax records also. It seems strangely a long time before the medical examiner came back with his results.

 

[Bounceycat]

So were Mary's benefits just continuing to be deposited into her bank account, and can't more info about that end of things reveal more, like was the money being spent, where, etc etc. What about income tax records also. It seems strangely a long time before the medical examiner came back with his results.

I'm willing to bet they went into a joint account with the husband and were spent as usual. Unknown as to whether taxes were filed, but VA benefits aren't taxable and if SS income is low enough, they may not have met the threshold of needing to file. Regardless, you can be years behind on filing and not on the IRS radar, especially if you're not self employed or having high wages with no withholding. I doubt the police even looked into it all that much, because he was a stroke victim with dementia, and the time from her body being discovered (Dec 22) to his death (Feb 2) was so short. A person with dementia would be not fit to stand trial, and a deceased person can't be charged so the police put the file into inactive status. JMO

 

[Andreee]

I'm willing to bet they went into a joint account with the husband and were spent as usual. Unknown as to whether taxes were filed, but VA benefits aren't taxable and if SS income is low enough, they may not have met the threshold of needing to file. Regardless, you can be years behind on filing and not on the IRS radar, especially if you're not self employed or having high wages with no withholding. I doubt the police even looked into it all that much, because he was a stroke victim with dementia, and the time from her body being discovered (Dec 22) to his death (Feb 2) was so short. A person with dementia would be not fit to stand trial, and a deceased person can't be charged so the police put the file into inactive status. JMO

Ah, I see, thanks. I'm not American, so didn't know the income tax laws there. I guess the Med.Ex. wasn't in any hurry or pressured to give his results in a short time frame either.

 

[summergirl1]

I think the son was likely estranged from his father, too, and just showed up when he had a stroke. I need to look up more old articles to see if the neighbors claimed he was seen before Dec, 2023. Some of the news articles weren't very clear on that, but the police did say he wasn't living there. If he visited before the stroke, though, I'm wondering what he was told about where Mary was. But I guess it sounds like Robert had no family visiting for many years as he was estranged from his family and at least some of them lived faraway, so awkward questions about where Mary was or what had happened to her didn't get asked.

The son was obviously a step son of Mary's-Robert's son only. As for Robert's friend, I wonder if he had known for awhile about Mary's body being in the freezer or if he happened across it after Robert's stroke, or even found a note or something telling about it. He doesn't seem to have known what happened, but if he simply knew her body was in a freezer on the property, he should have reported it.

I do wonder if Robert's health issues led in part or even completely to him concealing Mary's death, if that's what happened. It's estimated to have happened ten years before, but from what neighbors said, including the below (older) article that says a neighbor called the city in the '90s about rats coming from the property, which showed signs of hoarding, there were obviously issues at the property for years. Six months after woman found in Allied Gardens freezer, new info about husband

 

[dalsglen]

I have no words.

 

[summergirl1]

I think the Medical Examiner may have taken so long because they wanted to be sure about the cause of death, if they could be. Was it homicide or not? Or possible homicide? If it was natural, when did it happen(useful for determining if there was benefits fraud, and the extent of it). Actually, it's perhaps surprising they possibly went to such lengths considering that even in the beginning, when Robert was alive, he couldn't be charged because he wasn't competent to stand trial for anything(and never would be). Or maybe there was a long backlog at the ME's office or something and this wasn't given priority as it wasn't going to result in charges being able to brought Robert or his family.

 

[Lilibet]

What a sad story.

 

[Curious Me]

Local News

Family of San Diego woman found dead in freezer speaks out​

Step-daughter of deceased woman discusses shocking discovery and unanswered questions surrounding the case

Video included in news article & below

Family of San Diego woman found dead in freezer speaks out

Step-daughter of deceased woman discusses shocking discovery and unanswered questions surrounding the case

www.cbs8.com

 

[Carovb5]

Seeing her picture i really wonder if 1 person was able to put her in a freezer all by him self. She wasn’t petite & a freezer is quite high.