Body parts found in Colorado freezer identified as 16-year-old girl, missing since 2005

By Zoe Sottile, CNN

(CNN) — The human head and hands discovered in the freezer of a Colorado home in January have been identified as belonging to a 16-year-old girl who had been missing for almost 20 years, according to local authorities.

Amanda Overstreet was identified as the victim through DNA testing, according to a Friday news release from the Mesa County Sheriff’s Office. The teenager’s head and hands were found in the freezer of a recently sold home in Grand Junction, Colorado, on January 12.

The remains were discovered by someone who came to the home to pick up the freezer for free, the sheriff’s office said.

Overstreet, believed to be “approximately 16 years old at the time of her disappearance,” had not been “seen or heard from since April 2005,” according to the sheriff’s office. She was the daughter of the home’s previous owner.

There is no evidence Overstreet was ever reported missing, and the “circumstances surrounding her disappearance remain under investigation,” the sheriff’s office said.

CNN has reached out to the Mesa County Sheriff’s Office for more information about Overstreet’s disappearance.

Previously, authorities said they believed the discovery was an “isolated incident” and that there was no continuing threat to the community.

The sheriff’s office didn’t disclose whether a cause of death was identified.

One neighbor recalled seeing Overstreet walk to school before her disappearance, according to CNN affiliate KJCT.

“The last time we saw the little girl was when she was on her way to school,” Jameson Perez said.

“We were all guessing who it was,” he said of the discovered remains. “We started thinking, ‘Had it been the little girl who was there?’”

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