2019 photo of the house at 2988 Pinyon Ave. where the severed head was reportedly found in a freezer in the garage. (Source: Google Street View)
UPDATE 1/18/24 @ 11:48 a.m.: The Mesa County Sheriff’s Office (MCSO) issued an update today on the case of the severed head. It says, “The autopsy by the Mesa County Coroner’s Office occurred yesterday and has confirmed the human remains found at the address on Pinyon Avenue on January 12, 2024, are a human head and human hands,” and “we have no other definitive answers until further testing can be completed.”
[Note: this story was updated with additional information received on 1/16/24@11:45 a.m. that has been added in blue text, below.]
Multiple people are reporting on social media that a severed head and possibly additional body parts were discovered in a freezer in the garage of the home at 2988 Pinyon Ave. on Friday, January 12. The story has been confirmed by multiple sources and people have been posting photos documenting the incident.
Here’s what is known so far:
The house was owned since 2006 by a couple, Bradley David and Lea Imer, who both lived there with a younger man presumed to be the couple’s son. The husband, Bradley David Imer, died at St. Mary’s Hospital on July 7, 2021 of cardiac arrest, tension pneumothorax, respiratory distress syndrome and Covid-19, according to his death certificate. Neighbors report that Lea Imer and the younger man she lived with at the house after Bradley Imer’s death had gotten a U-Haul and moved out the week before this incident. Neighbors say the occupants had long been hoarders, and the house had recently been sold to “a flipper.”
The new owner of the house reportedly put ads on Facebook and Craigslist inviting people to come and haul away items of value from the property for free, like scrap metal, to help clean it up. “The hoarders moved out and people came with trailers” to get the remaining items, a source said. People also arrived to start cleaning up the hoard. One of the items the owner was giving away was a functioning freezer in the garage. The people who came to get the freezer opened it up and saw a layer of freezer-burned meat that they decided to donate to local animal shelters. They removed the meat, then reached in and pulled out a black plastic bag which then broke, and a head fell out onto the concrete floor. The person who pulled the black bag out of the freezer reportedly said, “I’ll never forget what that sounded like, and the face on that head.” He reportedly took a photo of the head. There were other black bags in the freezer under that one, and then law enforcement was called to the scene.
[Update 1/16/24@10:52 a.m.: A communication just came in from a first-hand source saying the head did not actually fall out of the bag.][Update: 1/16/24@11:45 a.m.: The confidential source, who had direct experience with the incident, wrote, “The head was never dropped. It was wrapped multiple times in black trash bags, the first thing that fell out was fish filets so we kept unwrapping as that what we expected to be in said bags. As we opened the last bag the head rolled out on to the bed of our truck. At that point the new owner of the house called it in. I did state that I would never forget the sound it made as it hit the tailgate and rolled.”
Soon people showed up in hazmat suits, and then a white truck with a camper shell without windows arrived, later identified as belonging to the Mesa County Coroner’s office. The neighbors decided that the coroner’s presence at the scene confirmed that human remains were in fact found at the house. People wearing coroner jackets then started removing items from the home last Friday, Jan. 12. The following photos were taken by a neighbor:
Photo of a woman taking a box from the Pinyon Ave. residence that was said to contain the severed head. (Photo: Facebook)
Photo of a woman taking a blue body bag from the residence. (Photo: Facebook)
On Saturday, law enforcement returned to the house and went through it with black lights, which neighbors say could be seen through the windows, apparently looking for traces of blood.
There has been lots of buzz about this incident on social media, but for unknown reasons nothing has been reported about it in the local mainstream news outlets so far.
Update 1/15/24 @ 8:58 p.m. – The Mesa County Sheriff’s Office just put out a press release about this incident containing far less information, saying they are investigating the case as a homicide.
Aerial view of the house from the Mesa County Assessor’s website showing lots of junk in the back yard consistent with hoarding
Most of this is accurate I haven’t been to town in years but I lived two door down for half of 8 yrs of my life I went in the house once as a kid they had a lot of grocery bags full of random things and boxes, but that was like 11 years ago It probably would’ve taken at least two of those huge dumpsters to clean out the whole house from what I saw back then so who knows what point it was at by the time these flippers received it but having grown up so close, it’s just weird not hearing any information or updates
Been awfully quite on this situation.. losing my head (and hands) over wondering what the heck happened…
Maybe the head belonged to Jimmy Hoffa? I think they are still looking for him..
Does anyone know anything about a daughter that lived at that house? We live around the corner and used to see her around the neighborhood, but haven’t seen her in years. Nothing I’ve seen about this story mentions a daughter, just a son.
i went to find their facebooks and there is a little girls in some pictures, they’ve posted years ago.
I actually used to know these people and from what my older brother said she went missing 5 years ago and when they asked the family they said she moved in with families
I did find a Facebook page for the daughter, so it looks like she’s okay at least.
Daughter is doing good. Talked to her yesterday. She is off to college and living her life.
Mesa County. More Florida than Florida!
Some of this is out of order as far as the story goes. Also those are my photos! Also, I didn’t share this information directly with this blog! Lol
@Sam did you copyright your photos?
It is not required to register a copyright. The creator of an image has an automatic copyright upon creation. These images should be licensed appropriately.
If you travel east on the street view from that house. You look in the back of the truck, it looks like a deep freeze is in the back of the truck. And maps is dated August of 2024
They’re entitled to use your photos when they comment on them. That’s fair use. I don’t agree with it but that’s how it works.
Some of this is out of order as far as the story goes. Also those are my photos!
I didn’t share this stuff with the blog, but someone did!
It looks like the MSM in GJ are finally picking up on the Anne Landman scoop, but only copying and pasting a press release from law enforcement. This is a sordid, but fascinating true crime story and if I were still working in the news biz, I’d be out there knocking on doors in the neighborhood, asking people what they knew about this. I’d also be asking the Sheriff and the Coroner why they kept this quiet until annelandmanblog.com broke the story.
Law Enforcement does not throw this information around like candy. It’s a serious investigation that they obviously don’t want attention drawn to while gathering as much evidence and information as they can. I understand a community has a right to know, but not if it impedes and investigation. Also MCSO and media outlets did release this today, same day as the blog.
Yikes. Hoarding is such a problem and many people do not appreciate the issues. Rodents of many types, insects, feral cats, all impacting a neighborhood. And now, severed heads…again, yikes.
Hoarders are the worst. I realize it’s an illness, though. They might’ve even forgotten about it, since I’m sure the freezer was probably buried under stacks of stuff.
How does one forget a severed head and possible other body parts in your freezer?
Maybe the people who were left after Mr. Imer passed away in 2021 didn’t know it was there.
I bet they didn’t 4get about it, they probably wanted it to fall back on the person buying the house.. ORRRR they killed other ppl and probably forgot about this one.. ♀️ The western slope isn’t anything like it used to be. I’m scared for the future my kids have to grow up in.
RIGHT!!