Identified! SC - Norway, Body found in freezer at abandoned "haunted" house. Jan'21 - Robert Fuller

[Susikatze]

Could be flippers or real estatd speculation. They buy buildings cheap either to flip or wait for an opportunity to resell them on a higher market price when property values go up. Would explain why it was bought and not inhabited the last 5-10 years.

 

[Betty P]

Could be flippers or real estatd speculation. They buy buildings cheap either to flip or wait for an opportunity to resell them on a higher market price when property values go up. Would explain why it was bought and not inhabited the last 5-10 years.

Agree, could have been someone who lived hundreds of miles away, who seldom checked on it. Convenient for locals who know when properties have absentee landlords and use them for other purposes.

 

[Valiant]

If you look things up in county records, the property is in a trust for JW (J=Joseph) and the owner mentioned in the news is also JW (but Joey).
I'm guessing Joey is a younger member of the family, maybe even the trustee for the trust.

The trust appears to hold undeveloped (farm?) land, maybe renting some houses, not properties to flip.

 

[TTF14]

If you look things up in county records, the property is in a trust for JW (J=Joseph) and the owner mentioned in the news is also JW (but Joey).
I'm guessing Joey is a younger member of the family, maybe even the trustee for the trust.

The trust appears to hold undeveloped (farm?) land, maybe renting some houses, not properties to flip.

The whole road is undeveloped except that house, so that makes sense.

Can you tell when the current owner took ownership?

 

[chaz]

Updated: Vacant home burns after body found; Orangeburg County coroner working to identify person discovered in freezer
Snippet from this article:
J. W. , who owns the home and surrounding property, said the two-story house was around 100 years old.

No one’s lived in it for about a decade. W. said there was no electricity going to the home.

W. noted that he rarely went to the home, but he’d planted some pine trees on the property over the years and he’d check on them from time to time.

He thinks the last time he saw the freezer on the porch of the home was four or five years ago, but didn’t note anything suspicious about it then.

R. P. of Norway was the last person to live at the home nearly a decade ago. He raised his daughter there.

He bought the “five-foot, horizontal chest freezer” new when he lived there.

(Names are redacted by me).

 

[TTF14]

Updated: Vacant home burns after body found; Orangeburg County coroner working to identify person discovered in freezer
Snippet from this article:
J. W. , who owns the home and surrounding property, said the two-story house was around 100 years old.

No one’s lived in it for about a decade. W. said there was no electricity going to the home.

W. noted that he rarely went to the home, but he’d planted some pine trees on the property over the years and he’d check on them from time to time.

He thinks the last time he saw the freezer on the porch of the home was four or five years ago, but didn’t note anything suspicious about it then.

R. P. of Norway was the last person to live at the home nearly a decade ago. He raised his daughter there.

He bought the “five-foot, horizontal chest freezer” new when he lived there.

(Names are redacted by me).

Sounds to me like this has been in the W home for a long time and RP was a renter who bought the freezer and just left it behind when he moved out.

 

[Valiant]

It would appear RP was a tenant, not an owner. The land shows JAW (Joseph) as a previous owner and JAW Trust as the current owner. The deed has changed a couple of times under the trust. Could be the trustee has changed or the land was financed or refinanced.

 

[MimosaMornings]

Anyone have a picture of the freezer?

 

[TTF14]

Sounds to me like this has been in the W home for a long time and RP was a renter who bought the freezer and just left it behind when he moved out.

Too late to edit my own post, but I meant to say it sounds like the home has been in the W family for a long time.

 

[T rex]

When a body is found in a freezer it usually indicates murder and the house burning a short time later just adds to that assumption but if you put those things aside (I know it's hard to do) there could be other possibilities.
Could it have been suicide? Or a drug overdose or natural causes and someone placed them in the freezer? I even thought about someone drunk or on drugs climbing in and then suffocating. It's happened to quite a few children. I'm thinking of all this but I know it's probably murder. The only other likely option is an overdose and the body was put there and depending on circumstances that could also be murder.

 

[chaz]

There are 7 people missing from that county in NAMUS.

And there is this man, missing since june 28 2020.
Deputies seek missing Orangeburg County man

 

[ChatteringBirds]

IMO, this victim could also easily be from Georgia.

Now that we know the freezer was not put there by the perp(s), we're probably looking at someone living in the area who knew it was there. Maybe the events even took place in the house.

 

[T rex]

IMO, this victim could also easily be from Georgia.

Now that we know the freezer was not put there by the perp(s), we're probably looking at someone living in the area who knew it was there. Maybe the events even took place in the house.

Whoever is responsible for this had to know the body would eventually be found, so why feel the need to come back and burn the house afterwards? Why not just dispose of the body some other way in the first place? I don't know but it doesn't make much sense.

Whoever is responsible for this had to know the body would eventually be found so why not just dispose of it some other way in the first place? Why feel the need to come back and burn the house afterwards?

 

[T rex]

It doesn't make much sense to come back and destroy evidence after LE has been there, conducted an investigation and left with the main piece of evidence ( the body).
Maybe someone burned the house for another reason. The house had a reputation for being haunted and now this. Maybe a superstitious person didn't like the house being there and decided they would just put an end to it, but I'm gonna say it was probably someone doing it for the thrill of just adding some more suspense to this whole thing. JMO.

 

[LadyL]

dbm

 

[TTF14]

It doesn't make much sense to come back and destroy evidence after LE has been there, conducted an investigation and left with the main piece of evidence ( the body).
Maybe someone burned the house for another reason. The house had a reputation for being haunted and now this. Maybe a superstitious person didn't like the house being there and decided they would just put an end to it, but I'm gonna say it was probably someone doing it for the thrill of just adding some more suspense to this whole thing. JMO.

I'm making the assumption that even though the body was removed, whoever set the fire is afraid of what else LE will find if they go back.

 

[Marg from Oz]

Maybe D.N.A. fingerprints so they Got rid of them.

Maybe the freezer has them on it, hopefully.

 

[cocomod]

I sincerely hope that this one can be solved. Remote area, no cameras, not the home owner...

 

[chaz]

I expect this case will be solved. After all, it started like the beginning of a movie and in movies it is always solved, right?

 

[Valiant]

My suspicion is this house was no longer in condition to be rented out so it sat vacant. And since it was fairly isolated it became a "haunted" party house. Quite possible someone OD'd there. Just my guess.