According to law enforcement sources who spoke with The Post, the decapitated skull and other body parts discovered hidden in plastic bags inside a freezer in a Brooklyn apartment are probably the remains of a nearby drug dealer who vanished last year.
The woman who lives in the flat, who is currently a person of interest in the investigation, told police that her husband killed the dealer in September after a fight over narcotics and left his dismembered body in the refrigerator. This information was provided by police reacting to the graphic scene in Flatbush on Monday.
The woman, 45-year-old Heather Stines, has not been charged; neighbors and sources have recognized her as such. She is currently receiving psychiatric examination.
The Post is withholding her husband’s name; he has not been formally connected to the death.
At a press conference on the case on Tuesday, NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny stated that police were called to the Nostrand Avenue apartment at 6:15 a.m. on Monday following a report regarding a body hidden within.
When Stines attempted to prevent police from peeking inside the refrigerator, where the skull and other body parts were on ice, they discovered it taped shut and brought her into arrest, according to the sources.
When Stines was taken into jail, police claimed she had multiple outstanding warrants for petty theft. She is currently being monitored at Brookdale Hospital.
Sources claim that Stines recognized the drug dealer from a picture and said that the missing man’s tattoo matched the one on the mutilated body.
In the past, Stines would occasionally invite the missing drug dealer to sleep in the apartment, according to building neighbors, but in recent months, she has refused to let guests near her refrigerator.
“She would never let anyone in her kitchen, never,” tenant Dorothy Williams said. “She let me in her apartment but never the kitchen. She never let the super in her kitchen, only the bathroom.”
Williams stated that the woman was originally from Kentucky and had been residing in the building for around six years. She said her husband was serving time in jail in Virginia for identity fraud.
She claimed that while a caseworker would periodically check in on the couple, it was not consistently done.
Williams said of the woman, “She just told me that her caseworker was just here.” However, their caseworker doesn’t visit and peruse anything. They simply sort of poke their head in, say “everything is OK in here,” and walk out.
Upstairs neighbors also mentioned that the case made her think of another, more well-known one.
“It reminds me of Jeffrey Dahmer,” tenant Catherine Montez Acarte said. “Just her hiding the body parts in the fridge. I was shaking. It’s terrifying.”
