‘Lady In The Fridge’ Identified After Nearly Three Decades, Killer Still At Large

In March 1995, a young man searching for recyclables discovered the body of a murdered woman in an irrigation canal in Holt, California, a community about an hour east of San Francisco. The body was in an advanced state of decomposition within a refrigerator that was partly submerged in water. A sock was stuffed in her mouth, and her hands had been tied together with tape, reported KCRA. She had apparently been left there for around six months before the refrigerator was discovered.

Authorities believed the woman was a homicide victim because her body showed obvious injuries. According to Newsweek, she was killed by blunt force trauma to the head. The San Joaquin County Sheriff’s Office investigators tried to identify the victim, but their search was complicated by many factors, including the fact that the murdered woman was never reported missing. The case eventually went cold. Meanwhile, there were a lot of advances in modern technology since the body was initially discovered.

The victim was finally identified in February 2023 as Amanda Lynn Schumann Deza, a mother of three who was only 29 years old when she was murdered. San Joaquin Sheriff Patrick Withrow explained at a press conference they identified her through forensic genealogy. The sheriff’s office worked with Othram Inc., a company that specializes in using forensic genealogy to help solve cold cases, to identify her.

Investigators now hope to solve Deza’s murder. According to SFGate, they know that the woman had three children and was separated from her husband. She was last seen alive at an apartment complex in Napa, California. She was with an unknown male who she met at a rehabilitation facility.

“This case is far from being closed, and justice is far from being served. I look forward to prosecuting to the fullest extent of the law the coward that committed this heinous act,” San Joaquin County district attorney Ron Freitas explained at a press conference.

Stockton Crime Stoppers is offering a $10,000 reward for information that leads to the arrest of Deza’s murderer. Anyone with information about the murder is encouraged to contact the cold case unit at (209) 468-5087 or coldcase@sjgov.org.