Police searching for woman who kept dead husband's body in a freezer

Police are searching for 67-year-old Missouri resident Barbara Watters, who is believed to have stored her husband's body in a freezer for nearly a year. (Joplin Police Department)

Police are searching for a Missouri woman who authorities believe hid her husband's body in a freezer for nearly a year.

Barbara Watters was charged on Wednesday with abandonment of a corpse after police made the grim discovery of the body of Paul Barton inside a freezer at Ms Watters' home.

Joplin Police Department investigators searched the property on Tuesday during a neighbourhood canvas following an unrelated arson investigation.

A witness told officers that they believed a deceased person was inside Ms Watters' residence, according to police. That witness said Ms Watters threatened to kill him if he reported her to authorities.

On 12 November, police discovered Mr Barton's body inside a freezer. He died on 30 December 2018.

A post-mortem examination will be performed to determine Mr Barton's cause of death.

According to a witness statement in an affidavit, Ms Watters also threatened to kill police, firefighters and other emergency responders if they entered her home. She is believed to have unspecified "mental disorders" and may be armed, according to police.

According to the Associated Press, the affidavit says that the witness was inside Ms Watters' home on 7 November when officers attempted to contact the home's occupants during a potentially unrelated 5 November arson.

The witness said that Ms Watters pointed a gun at officers from the other side of the door and refused to let them in.

Police released a photo of Ms Watters, along with her license plate number and a picture of a white sedan that police believe she's driving and asked the public to help in their search.