Missing man found dead in freezer at storage facility

VENTURA, Calif. (KABC) -- A two-year missing-person case has turned into a murder investigation. Police found a body inside a freezer at a Ventura storage facility.

Police say they found the frozen body of a missing man stuffed inside a small working freezer in a storage unit on Wednesday.

"In 24 years I've never had a case like this. I've never been involved, I've never been around something like this," said Ventura Police Commander Darin Schindler.

Schindler says investigators got a tip about a homicide victim being kept at a self-storage facility on Market Street. That tip led to a search warrant, and that led to the discovery of Laguna Beach resident Jeffrey Korber's body on June 28. He had been missing since July 2011.

The freezer was plugged in and the body was frozen, Schindler said.

Police did not specify how Korber was killed, but they say he was murdered. Investigators used fingerprints to confirm his identity.

"The body actually was pretty well-preserved," said Schindler. "We were able to confirm through photos, also."

Investigators learned that Korber had been living part-time with a woman in Ventura, 66-year-old Mary Hannan. Police say her 49-year-old son, Michael Bresnak, is the man responsible for Korber's death.

"We have a male suspect that we believe committed the homicide. He's in custody for unrelated charges," said Schindler.

Bresnak has been named the suspect but he has not been charged with any crime. His mother is considered a person of interest and has not been charged with a crime.

"This only happens in the movies, not in real life," said Michelle Nickerson, the manager at the storage facility where the body was found. She says Bresnak rented the storage unit a year ago and that he would come to the unit regularly.

"Just an ordinary guy I would speak to every day in passing, as I do the rest of the tenants here," said Nickerson.

Anyone with information related to the case should contact Ventura Police at (805) 339-4441.

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missing person, murder, homicide investigation, ventura county news, robert holguin

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