SignalHub-Alabama parents arrested after their son's decomposing body found in broken freezer

Alabama tenants were preparing to move into a home Sunday when they found decomposing remains believed to belong to a 19-year-old man in a broken freezer. The SignalHubdiscovery was made 18 days after the man's father called police and confessed to hurting his son. 

The remains were found in Headland, Alabama, about 130 miles southeast of Montgomery and part of Henry County.

“People were cleaning up to get ready to move in, they tried to move the freezer and smelled an odor,” Headland Police Chief Mark Jones said in an interview with USA TODAY.

According to Jones, the callers saw a hand or body part in the freezer and called the Henry County Sheriff’s office.

The body has been taken to the Alabama Department of Forensic Science for an official autopsy but police believe the severely decomposed remains belong to 19-year-old Logan Michael Halstead. 

The man suffered from spina bifida, according to television station WTVY TV.

His parents, 44-year-old Michael Shane Halstead and 43-year-old Karen Tysinger Halstead have been charged with abuse of a corpse in connection to the case. They were initially held in the Henry County Jail without bond.

The pair had a court hearing Monday afternoon, and their bonds were changed to $175,000 each, Henry County Sheriff Eric Blankenship told USA TODAY.

The man's father said during that court hearing that his wife, Karen, had nothing to do with getting rid of their son’s remains, WTVY TV reported. The Alabama Department of Human Resources has taken custody of the couple’s twin children.

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Halstead and his family moved out of Headland in September, the outlet reported.

On Oct. 11, the man's father called Headland police and said his son was in the freezer.

The same day that he called police about the body in the freezer, the man's father was arrested by Dothan police and locked up for 10 days because he didn’t show up to court on domestic violence charges, according to WTVY TV.

“He said he had been hearing voices and he had done something he thought was wrong,” Jones, Headland Police Chief, said. “We had three officers respond and when we responded to the scene, nobody had lived there for several weeks.”

Jones said the responding officers looked inside the freezer and found papers but did not find the body. 

WTVY TV reported that the body was wrapped in tarps and blankets and the remains were placed in a cardboard box.

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A grisly discovery just before move in

On Sunday, 18 days after Halstead called police about his son’s body, the new tenants in the home contacted the Henry County Sheriff’s Office to tell them they’d found the remains.

The call came in just before 11:30 a.m. that day and when deputies arrived, they found a deceased body in the freezer in the backyard, the sheriff’s office said in a news release.

The man's parents were found in Jack, Alabama, about 60 miles northwest of Headland. They were brought back to Headland for questioning and were eventually arrested, the sheriff’s office said.

“As far as our agency, but by no means is the investigation over with,” said Blankenship, Henry County sheriff Wednesday afternoon. “We're still gathering evidence, pulling in witnesses and talking to get a more defined timeline on when this occurred.”

He said there may be additional charges filed and his office is meeting with the district attorney Thursday morning to go over recently-gathered evidence.

The sheriff’s office asks that anyone with information call the Henry County Task Force at (334) 585-3131.