Amanda Overstreet Case: Teen Girl’s Remains Found in Freezer After 2005 Disappearance
Human remains found earlier this year in Colorado have been identified.
In January, the Mesa County Sheriff’s Office was called after new homeowners held a garage sale to get rid of belongings left behind by the previous owners and made a suspicious discovery.
“Upon arrival,” the sheriff’s department said in an Oct. 11 statement, “deputies found the head and hands of a human had been discovered in a freezer by someone who arrived to claim the free appliance offered by the new owner of the recently sold home.”
Through DNA testing, the Coroner’s Office was able to identify the victim as Amanda Leariel Overstreet, the biological daughter of the previous owner of the home, according to the sheriff’s department.
“Amanda is believed to have been approximately 16 years old at the time of her disappearance,” authorities states. “Overstreet has not been seen or heard from since April 2005.”
However, the department noted the teen was never reported missing.
Wendy Likes, a Mesa County Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman, shared in a statement to DailyMail.com that Amanda’s mother Leanne Overstreet Imer and her late husband Bradley Imer were the previous homeowners. No arrests have been made in the case.
According to the spokeswoman, Leanne is still a resident of Grand Junction, Colo., a city in Mesa County.
E! News has reached out to Leanne for comment but has not heard back.
After Amanda’s remains were discovered back in January, neighbor Sam Troester shared insight on the community’s reaction to the shocking news. Troester said she learned about the situation after letting the freezer’s potential new owners use her restroom that day.
“I let them in and cautiously I was like, 'What's going on?’” Sam told local affiliate 9 News. “They continued to tell me that they opened the freezer to empty it so they could transport it and they said a head fell out. A human head!”
Following the positive identification, the investigation remains ongoing.
“The circumstances surrounding her disappearance remain under investigation,” the Sheriff’s Office’s statement added, “as well as ongoing forensic testing of evidence.”
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