Terrell York.Photo:Isabella County Jail
Isabella County Jail
A Michigan man has been jailed for storing his dead wife in a freezer for around a year.
On Tuesday, Isabella County Circuit Judge Mark H. Duthie handed down a prison sentence of up to eight years to Terrell York, who pleaded guilty in October to hiding the death of his wife, Patricia M. York, 67,MLive.comreported.
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“The facts of this case are horrible,” Duthie said during the sentencing, per the news outlet. “When a person passes … there should be closure for the family, for the friends. A person’s body after death should be treated with dignity. It should be treated with respect. It shouldn’t be stuffed in a freezer like a piece of meat. Your conduct is outrageous.”
“His answers were erratic and he was looking all around the room throughout the interview,” deputies recalled, per the affidavit, as York was interviewed in jail. “He said she did not want her family to know where she was living.”
York later told authorities that his wife died of natural causes in September 2022. However, York did not notify anyone and put his wife’s body in the freezer,CBS Detroitreported.
Isabella County Prosecutor David Barberi alleged that York didn’t report Patricia’s death because he wanted to collect her Social Security payments, AP reported. According to the affidavit, deputies wrote that the payments were spent on food and bills.
Barberi also said that investigators could not find a cause of Patricia’s death, per MLive.com
Amy Chamberlain, York’s lawyer, said that the couple had medical issues and York lost his job as a result.
Michelle McGraw, Patricia’s daughter, gave a statement via Zoom in court. “I’m angry my mom would be thought of as ‘the person in the freezer’ instead of a person who was loved and loved her family,” McGraw said, per MLive.com. “She was a sister, an aunt, a mom, and a grandma.”
York declined to comment at his sentencing after being given an opportunity from the judge. He has not been accused of killing his wife.
PEOPLE reached out to the Isabella County Prosecutor’s Office and York’s attorney for comment on the sentencing.
source: people.com
