John Jefferson
Inset: David Michael Gibson (Bexar County Jail). Background: The garage where Bexar County deputies found his father’s body (KENS/YouTube).
Authorities in Texas discovered a “badly decomposed” body inside a chained refrigerator in a home during a welfare check on a man in his 70s who hadn’t been seen for months.
Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar said deputies responded Thursday to a home in the 7500 block of Rustic Trail and started talking to a man who identified himself as the person they were looking for.
“But the deputy got the sense it was not him,” Salazar said. “Later on in the day, he was able to get in touch with some family members who said ‘That voice on that Ring is not our father.””
The family helped deputies enter the home where 48-year-old David Michael Gibson emerged. Deputies looked around and found a refrigerator in the garage that “appeared suspicious in nature,” Salazar said. It appeared to be chained shut, according to Salazar. Deputies opened the fridge and found human remains, Salazar said.
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San Antonio CBS affiliate KENS spoke to family members who said they immediately saw a human head when they opened the fridge door and slammed it shut. The deputies had everyone leave the home to establish a crime scene.
“It’s too early to tell if the victim was actually murdered, but what we have is a badly decomposed body that’s been there for some time,” Salazar said.
Gibson was taken to the Bexar County Jail on a charge of tampering with a corpse. He remains in jail on a $250,000 bond.
The family told police they hadn’t heard from or seen the victim in months and there are some “indicators” that Gibson had been living with the remains for quite some time, Salazar said. Gibson was allegedly cashing checks from his father’s Social Security and military pension. The victim also apparently hadn’t refilled his prescriptions for a while.
An autopsy will determine the cause and manner of death.
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