Body of woman, 87, found in freezer of her Southern California garage

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The body of an 87-year-old retired sheriff's detective was found inside her home's freezer, leading police to question a loved one who made "inconsistent statements" about the senior's whereabouts, authorities said Wednesday.

a house with trees in the background© Provided by NBC News
Riverside police officers went to the 6600 block of New Ridge Drive on Sunday morning to do a welfare check on Miriam Travis, 87, because an out-of-state daughter had grown concerned after not hearing from her mom in two months, officials said.

Police were met at the house by Travis' 64-year-old daughter, who lives there, and the investigators "started noticing inconsistent statements with her story as to mom's whereabouts," Officer Javier Cabrera told NBC News.

"There were just a lot of flags," Cabrera added. "Officers were able to go inside the residence, which was disheveled, almost hoard-like conditions. They go inside, go through the garage and in the freezer they locate the mother deceased inside the freezer."

Travis' daughter was briefly detained by police, but not arrested, pending the results of an autopsy.

Longtime neighbor Cedric Valentin recalled seeing Travis' daughter recently outside their house and he asked about her mom. The neighborhood is about 60 miles east of downtown Los Angeles.

"I says, 'Carol, where’s Miriam?' I says, 'You to tell her I said hello.' She was, 'Oh she’s in the house,' ” Valentin told NBC Los Angeles.

Property records listed Carol Etchells, 64, living in the same house with Travis. Etchells could not be immediately reached for comment on Wednesday at any of her publicly listed phone numbers.




Another longtime New Ridge Drive resident, Randy Hayes, said Travis was a good neighbor. They'd regularly tell each other when they'd be out of town on vacation, so one could keep an eye on the other's empty house.

"It's a tragedy as you can imagine. I don't think any of us could imagine having our mom in a freezer right?” said Hayes.

Travis worked 27 years for the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department from 1963 until her retirement in 1990.

"Our hearts are broken by this news and the entire LASD family mourns her loss," Sheriff Alex Villanueva said in a statement.