Son of man found in freezer admits to abuse of corpse

SALEM, Ore. (AP) – A 59-year-old man has been sentenced to seven years in prison for crimes related to keeping the body of his deceased father inside a freezer south of Portland and collecting his father’s government benefits.

The Marion County District Attorney’s Office says Edward Fitchett pleaded guilty to abuse of a corpse and six counts of theft and was sentenced Tuesday.

Fitchett was arrested in February after Marion County sheriff’s detectives found the body of 87-year-old Henry Conley Fitchett inside his home in Aurora. Prosecutors say he was last seen in December 2015 and that his son told people his father had gone to live with another son in Eastern Oregon.

Prosecutors say Edward Fitchett collected his father’s retirement and Social Security benefits for the next 13 months. An autopsy determined his father died of natural causes.