BROOKLYN, NY – Heather Stines, a 45-year-old resident of Brooklyn’s Flatbush district, is facing charges of concealing a corpse. These charges follow the discovery of a decapitated head and dismembered body parts in her apartment’s freezer. The grim findings have triggered a homicide investigation, authorities confirmed.
Police detained Stines on Wednesday following a psychiatric assessment. According to police, Stines claimed her spouse, Nicholas McGee, murdered Kawsheen Gelzer, 39, in a drug-related altercation last September. McGee reportedly dismembered Gelzer’s body and stored the parts in plastic bags in the freezer. However, McGee, who is currently in a Virginia jail facing identity fraud charges, remains unlinked to the body formally.
Tenants and insiders identified the mutilated body as that of Gelzer, who was last seen entering the Nostrand Avenue residence. According to locals, Stines sometimes allowed Gelzer, a purported drug dealer, to sleep in her apartment. However, she reportedly barred visitors from accessing her kitchen in recent months.
Building resident Dorothy Williams noted discrepancies in the regular welfare checks conducted on Stines and McGee, alleging the case worker’s visits were superficial. The apartment’s gruesome contents were unearthed after an anonymous tip to the police led officers to the residence early on Monday. The taped-shut refrigerator they found at the scene contained the body parts, according to the NYPD Chief of Detectives, Joseph Kenny.
Stines, who had outstanding petit larceny warrants, tried to bar police from the fridge. This contributed to her arrest, law enforcement sources said. Stines later identified the victim from a picture and confirmed that a tattoo on the dismembered body matched Gelzer’s.