Woman Keeps Husband's Body In Freezer For A Year To Keep His Brain From Doctors

A Missouri woman who kept her husband’s body in a freezer in her bedroom for over a year told the police that she was afraid that doctors would take her husband’s brain for research.

Barbara Watters, 67, has been charged with abandonment of a corpse, which is punishable for up to four years. This comes after police discovered the remains of her husband Paul Barton in a freezer at her home earlier this month. Barton had died on Dec. 30, 2018.

According to police Capt. Nick Jimenez, Barton was terminally ill and suffered from a progressive nervous system disease known as ALS or Lou Lou Gehrig’s disease. Watters denied Barton any treatment as she feared the doctors would take her husband’s brain for research, Fox News reported.

Watters was arrested earlier this month after police received a tip-off from an unknown witness who said that Barton was being kept in a freezer by Watters ever since his death. No evidence of foul play was found according to an autopsy carried out later. The relation between the witness and Watters has not been revealed by the police.

Watters had unspecified mental disorders, an affidavit filed by the police said. She was freed Thursday on house arrest.

Police and medical professionals had made several attempts to visit her house after receiving a report that Watters was prohibiting Watters from receiving care. However, she did not allow them to enter the house.

During one such visit, she wheeled Barton to the door so that they could see him. According to one officer, Barton looked "frail and sickly" but appeared to be breathing on his own and had no major bruising to suggest an assault. As Barton did not seem to be in danger, there were no grounds for entering the house, the officer said.

A police report from a subsequent visit states Watters telling that they had difficulty in finding a doctor to treat Barton as both of them refused to consent to research.

"She kept making mention of Paul’s body being used for research," the report said. "She said they did not want his body to be taken apart.”

Her attorney Cobb Young declined to comment on the repeated visits of the police and state officials claiming he had no knowledge about any of that.

"They weren't crazy people," Brandon West, a neighbor, told AP news. "She seemed normal when I talked to her. She seemed like an elderly lady living her life."