Elderly woman found in freezer

By Jeanne Sager
COOKS FALLS — Unusual activity at a Town of Rockland bank prompted an investigation that uncovered a Cooks Falls woman in her family’s freezer.
Senior Investigator Mike Orrego of the State Police at Liberty gave full credit to the bank official who noticed “something wasn’t right” with the activity in a certain account over a period of time.
Liberty police started to investigate only to discover the account was linked to a family living just over the Sullivan County border in Cooks Falls.
Early this week, troopers from Troop C, executed a search warrant at the Delaware County home.
There they found the woman’s body in an otherwise empty chest freezer within the home.
According to Senior Investigator George Goodall of the Binghamton barracks, she’d likely been dead for more than a year, perhaps close to a year and a half.
Two dates of birth have been provided, but investigators say she was between 100 and 104 years old.
“We don’t have any reason to believe there was foul play,” Goodall said, noting the woman’s age. “But an autopsy has to be performed.”
That will take some time because the body has to be thawed. Once the actual cause of death has been determined, police will be able to tell if this is a homicide investigation or not.
The autopsy results will also determine how State Police in Liberty will proceed with their investigation into the financial matter.
The police declined to release the names of the family members – although Goodall said the woman was living “with family members,” at the time of her death.
There have been no arrests at this time.