US woman finds human body parts in second-hand freezer she bought for $30

The seller, her neighbour, told her not to open it because the local church was using it as a 'time capsule' ‒ then left town

The woman opened the freezer after members of the local church failed to turn up to remove items from the 'time capsule' (iStock)

A US woman was sold a second-hand freezer containing what she believes are the frozen remains of the seller’s mother.

The woman, from Goldsboro in North Carolina, bought the freezer from a neighbour for $30, but the seller told her not to open it because her Sunday school class was using it as a time capsule.

The seller then left town the next day, the woman told local news channel WNCN.

After three weeks, nobody from the church had come to pick up the "time capsule", so the woman opened the freezer and made the gruesome discovery.

"[The] church was supposed to come, pick up the items inside the freezer. I was supposed to get the freezer back. The church never came. I decided to open it," the woman said.

Upon finding what she believed were body parts, she called the emergency services.

In a recording of the conversation, the woman can be heard saying: "I have a serious problem. My neighbour sold me a deep freezer. I just opened it and there’s a body in there I think. I am freaking out."

The woman believes the body to be that of the seller’s mother, who had lived with her daughter for years, but hadn’t been seen since September.

The seller reportedly told the buyer that she was leaving town to go to West Virginia to be with her mother, who she said was now living in a nursing home.

"She sold me her frozen mother for $30. How do you do something like that?" the woman said.

On Wednesday the remains were positively identified by the North Carolina Medical Examiner’s Office. There are no suspicions of foul play at this stage.

According to WNCN, Goldsboro Police are currently investigating the incident as a felony for concealing or failing to notify the death of a person.