Homeowners find body in refrigerator of rented Santa Ana garage

The tenants moved out of the Santa Ana home’s garage without warning. Time to rent it out again, the homeowners decided.

The inside of the makeshift living space was sparse; the tenants left behind only a few things, including a couch and a refrigerator.

But when the owners of the home opened the still plugged-in refrigerator, they discovered the fully clothed body of a dead woman.

Santa Ana Police officers received a call at 2 p.m. Thursday afternoon reporting the body at the property in the 1000 block of Jackson Street, Santa Ana police Cpl. Anthony Bertagna said.

Officers called in homicide detectives, and a search warrant was obtained late Thursday night, Bertagna said. The Orange County coroner took the entire refrigerator to the department’s lab.

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“At this point, we don’t know if this person died of natural causes, an overdose, or if in fact they’re a victim of a homicide,” Bertagna said. It is unclear what relationship the woman had with the people living in the garage, he added.

Along with trying to determine the woman’s identity, police also are trying to identify the tenants who had been living in the garage — a man and a woman, Bertagna said.

The homeowners had assumed the tenants had vacated, after they stopped paying rent, Bertagna said. The property includes a house, a garage and a structure in the rear yard, all with people living in them.

When the tenants moved out of the garage has not been determined.

“We’ve had cases where people have buried people in backyards,” Bertagna said. “But first refrigerator for me.”

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