# If you kept a dead body in a freezer for 20 years... **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 11, 2016, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-kept-a-dead-body-in-a-freezer-for-20-years/742845 "2016-01-11T20:21:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Marvin\_the\_Martian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/marvin_the_martian/32/2898_2.png) [@Marvin\_the\_Martian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marvin_the_Martian)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2016, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-kept-a-dead-body-in-a-freezer-for-20-years/742845/21 "2016-01-11T22:36:16Z")
> [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](#): > > Serve your frozen corpse to company (an arm and a leg 😃 at a time) until all gone
 Oh no, not Meatloaf again! ---
**Author:** ![bob\_2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bob_2/32/3341_2.png) [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2016, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-kept-a-dead-body-in-a-freezer-for-20-years/742845/22 "2016-01-11T23:06:39Z")
Mmmm
 These Rocky Mountain oysters are reelly good man
🙂 ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2016, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-kept-a-dead-body-in-a-freezer-for-20-years/742845/23 "2016-01-12T00:32:42Z")
> [@TheMysteryWriter](#): > > Ooh! That’s a possibility, if he is so poor he can’t afford a new freezer, right away, and its the middle of the summer. He may just plan a surprise barbecue for all his friends. Poor friends! _"He looks like he’s asleep. It’s a shame that he won’t keep. But it’s summer and we’re runnin’ out of ice!_ ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2016, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-kept-a-dead-body-in-a-freezer-for-20-years/742845/24 "2016-01-12T00:46:44Z")
I expect that the freezer would actually use even less energy than a normal freezer, since it’ll never be opened. And if you’re really serious about it, you could make it even more efficient, by adding layers of insulation. ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2016, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-kept-a-dead-body-in-a-freezer-for-20-years/742845/25 "2016-01-12T01:41:15Z")
**\** lady fingers they taste just like lady fingers **\** ---
**Author:** ![md2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@md2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md2000)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2016, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-kept-a-dead-body-in-a-freezer-for-20-years/742845/26 "2016-01-12T05:01:45Z")
> [@Marvin\_the\_Martian](#): > > Oh no, not Meatloaf again! “Eddy!” “That’s a rather tender subject. Would anyone care for another slice?” ---
**Author:** ![Totenfeier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/4bbf92/32.png) [@Totenfeier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Totenfeier)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2016, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-kept-a-dead-body-in-a-freezer-for-20-years/742845/27 "2016-01-12T13:45:34Z")
Re Jeffrey Dahmer, with apologies to _The_ _Fantasticks_, Harvey Schmidt, and Tom Jones: _"Deep_ _in_ _December_, _It’s_ _nice_ _to_ _dismember_ _And_ _swallow_, _Swallow_, _swallow_, _swallow
"_ ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2016, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-kept-a-dead-body-in-a-freezer-for-20-years/742845/28 "2016-01-12T14:22:30Z")
Michael (the son): What are we having for dinner tonight? Lily (the mother): Leftovers. Michael: What were they before they were leftovers? From _[Parents](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parents_(film))_, a film about a nice couple in the suburbs (who just happen to be cannibals) and their ten-year-old son who is just figuring this out. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2016, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-kept-a-dead-body-in-a-freezer-for-20-years/742845/29 "2016-01-12T14:24:43Z")
Fill a bunch of plastic jugs with water, freeze them, and put them in the freezer along with the body. It saves on electricity. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2016, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-kept-a-dead-body-in-a-freezer-for-20-years/742845/30 "2016-01-12T14:41:56Z")
> [@TheMysteryWriter](#): > > 
this secret freezer constantly running? It won’t be constantly running. Once the contents uniformly reach the target temperature, it will cycle on and off to maintain that temperature, compensating for heat gain. > [@Shodan](#): > > Fill a bunch of plastic jugs with water, freeze them, and put them in the freezer along with the body. It saves on electricity. How? I would think that heat transfer is going to be based on surface area, insulation, interior temperature, and ambient temperature. How do the contents come into play? ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2016, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-kept-a-dead-body-in-a-freezer-for-20-years/742845/31 "2016-01-12T15:09:55Z")
You might not even have to refrigerate. If one can trust TV, that is. There was a Closer episode where a body had been stuffed in an ice chest, which was sealed in plastic and duct tape. Said ice chest was left in a storage locker for three years. Apparently no smell escaped the sealed container. Much cheaper than running a fridge continuously
 ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2016, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-kept-a-dead-body-in-a-freezer-for-20-years/742845/32 "2016-01-12T15:15:01Z")
ETA: @ **CookingWithGas** **Shodan** ’s suggestion applies to freezers that are opened frequently and are mostly empty with lots of air in them. The idea being that by filling most of the empty space with water jugs you pay only once to cool that water into ice. Instead of every time you open the freezer all the cool air runs out onto the floor and the empty space refills in seconds with mostly room temperature air that you then have to pay to recool. Over an over again all afternoon every day as the kids go into the freezer for a popsicle. For chest style freezers with top-opening lids this is less of an issue. And for freezers holding dead bodies that you intend to never open again it’s a total non-issue. ---
**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2016, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-kept-a-dead-body-in-a-freezer-for-20-years/742845/33 "2016-01-12T16:22:21Z")
Assuming no-one else in the household is in on the secret, is it not unlikely that they would start to wonder why (a) that useful bit of space in the cellar they had their eye on for some makeover project seems to be sealed up (b) there’s the odd faint humming coming from somewhere when it’s clearly not the fridge or freezer in the kitchen © there’s a dumb waiter that apparently goes nowhere but can be heard in use? And if you could stand the tiresome necessity to unseal and reseal the room every time you have to dispose of someone asking those awkward questions, wouldn’t someone outside the house ask what’s happened to them all? ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2016, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-kept-a-dead-body-in-a-freezer-for-20-years/742845/34 "2016-01-12T16:25:50Z")
> [@PatrickLondon](#): > > Assuming no-one else in the household is in on the secret, is it not unlikely that they would start to wonder why (a) that useful bit of space in the cellar they had their eye on for some makeover project seems to be sealed up (b) there’s the odd faint humming coming from somewhere when it’s clearly not the fridge or freezer in the kitchen (c) there’s a dumb waiter that apparently goes nowhere but can be heard in use? > > And if you could stand the tiresome necessity to unseal and reseal the room every time you have to dispose of someone asking those awkward questions, wouldn’t someone outside the house ask what’s happened to them all? The simple answer: more and bigger freezers. Think of the savings! ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2016, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-kept-a-dead-body-in-a-freezer-for-20-years/742845/35 "2016-01-12T16:30:40Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > Roald Dahl, “[Lamb to the Slaughter](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lamb_to_the_Slaughter)”. I vaguely recall that this was adapted for an “Alfred Hitchcock Presents,” series. ---
**Author:** ![mmmiiikkkeee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/edb3f5/32.png) [@mmmiiikkkeee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mmmiiikkkeee)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2016, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-kept-a-dead-body-in-a-freezer-for-20-years/742845/36 "2016-01-12T18:00:47Z")
I work around biologists and fish and wildlife officers; there are several large freezers full of dead animals or parts there of, as well as biological samples. Depending on the setting, nobody will notice a freezer running all the time, especially if it’s rather full of many different types of plastic bags frozen together. A typical chest freezer will be over 2 feet deep, so just wrap your body (in parts ideally) with cheap black garbage bags, label them as disgusting cuts of meat nobody would ever want to defrost and eat, and then pile several layers of other nasty frozen stuff on top
 including some transparent bags of freezer-burnt vegetables to give the impression it’s all just nasty old food or dead pets waiting for burial (which reminds we I actually have a black lab in one of my freezers). Few people will want to pry apart all those frozen bags, if they can even get them apart just out of curiosity. It’ll end up being a big frozen mass of meat, plastic, and cellulose that will only be looked at when the freezer craps out or is thrown out. ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2016, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-kept-a-dead-body-in-a-freezer-for-20-years/742845/37 "2016-01-12T18:44:11Z")
^ Kid #1: Let’s get **mmmiiikkkeee**! Kid #2: Yeah! Kid #1: He won’t eat it. He hates everything
 ---
**Author:** ![edwards\_beard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7bcc69/32.png) [@edwards\_beard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/edwards_beard)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2016, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-kept-a-dead-body-in-a-freezer-for-20-years/742845/38 "2016-01-12T18:53:54Z")
I remember an episode of Tales From the Crypt kinda like this. A small diner that was ready to shut down, got a resurgence because of a dish that everyone loved made out of human flesh. It starred Christopher Reeve, Judd Nelson and Meat Loaf. [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0716909/](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0716909/) ---
**Author:** ![Mighty\_Girl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7bcc69/32.png) [@Mighty\_Girl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mighty_Girl)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2016, 12:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-kept-a-dead-body-in-a-freezer-for-20-years/742845/39 "2016-01-13T12:37:48Z")
> [@edwards\_beard](#): > > I remember an episode of Tales From the Crypt kinda like this. A small diner that was ready to shut down, got a resurgence because of a dish that everyone loved made out of human flesh. It starred Christopher Reeve, Judd Nelson and Meat Loaf. > > ["Tales from the Crypt" What's Cookin' (TV Episode 1992) - IMDb](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0716909/) I highly recommend the Danish comedy The Green Butchers, starring Mads Mikkelsen (of Hannibal fame) about two butchers that make a killing selling pre-seasoned “chicken breast”. I wonder if a good plan wouldn’t be to dispose of the body by covering it with snow after a blizzard, several years later and far from home. Can forensics determine when the person actually died. It can certainly throw a wrench into the investigation if the person is thought to have been alive years after disappearing. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2016, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-kept-a-dead-body-in-a-freezer-for-20-years/742845/40 "2016-01-13T13:56:19Z")
> [@Mighty\_Girl](#): > > I highly recommend the Danish comedy The Green Butchers, starring Mads Mikkelsen (of Hannibal fame) about two butchers that \*\*make a killing \*\*selling pre-seasoned “chicken breast”. > > I wonder if a good plan wouldn’t be to dispose of the body by covering it with snow after a blizzard, several years later and far from home. Can forensics determine when the person actually died. It can certainly throw a wrench into the investigation if the person is thought to have been alive years after disappearing. Bolding mine. We see what you did there. As to hiding the body out in the snow, if you’re hoping to convince the authorities that the victim just went hiking and got killed by the elements, that large bashed-in area on the skull just \*might \*be a problem. As well, in the modern world people other than homeless drifters don’t tend to both disappear from the records system and still be assumed to be alive for years. If you or I got murdered & our body hidden, probably the single largest thing convincing the authorities that we’re dead is the sudden stoppage of our paper / electronic trail. Plenty of deceased elders without family are found out that way. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-kept-a-dead-body-in-a-freezer-for-20-years/742845.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-kept-a-dead-body-in-a-freezer-for-20-years/742845.md?page=3)