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Man Found In Freezer At Storage Unit, Girlfriend And Her Son Are Suspects
Police believe a Ventura County mother and son murdered a man, then stored the body in a freezer at a storage facility.
The body of Jeffrey Korber, 58, was discovered by Ventura police detectives in a freezer inside a unit at Ventura Mini Storage, 3695 Market Street, in June, according to CBS News.
Korber's family had reported him missing in Laguna Beach in July 2011.
"Although there were no signs of foul play at that time, the Laguna Beach Police Department conducted an extensive missing person investigation," Cmndr. Darin Schindler told CBS. "That investigation was concluded in early 2012 after Laguna Beach investigators were unable to substantiate if any crime had taken place."
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At the time of his disappearance, Korber was living with his then-girlfriend, 66-year-old Mary "Francesca" Hannan in Ventura.
After serving search warrants at Hannan's house, investigators "believe that Hannan's son, Michael Bresnak, killed Korber in early 2011 at Hannan's residence and, with the assistance of Hannan, they had been storing the victim's body in a freezer at the public storage facility," Schindler said.
Bresnak, 49, was arrested on June 28 and booked at the Ventura County Jail on a parole violation. Hannan has yet to be arrested or charged in Korber's murder.
"In 24 years I've never had a case like this," Schindler told ABC7.
Schindler says investigators got a tip about a homicide victim being kept at a self-storage facility on Market Street, where they found Korber's frozen body.
Police did not specify how Korber was killed, but that it was definitely murder. Investigators used fingerprints to confirm his identity.
"The body actually was pretty well-preserved," said Schindler. "We were able to confirm through photos, also."
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"This only happens in the movies, not in real life," Michelle Nickerson, the manager of the storage facility where the body was found, told ABC. She says Bresnak rented the storage unit a year ago and that he would come in regularly.
She described Bresnak as "just an ordinary guy I would speak to every day in passing, as I do the rest of the tenants here."
Detectives are continuing to investigate the case and are asking anyone with information about the crime or the persons involved to contact the Ventura Police Department Major Crimes Division at (805) 339-4441.
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