GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. (KJCT) – In January, a severed head and hand were found in a freezer at a home on Pinyon Avenue in Grand Junction. The remains were recently identified as Amanda Overstreet, believed to be 16 years old at the time of her death.

According to the Mesa County Sheriff’s Office, the home and its new owners have no apparent connection to the case. Neighbors we spoke with recall that the previous family that owned the house consisted of a mother, a father, their son and their daughter.

“I mean, she was a kid. She was 16 years old. She’s still a kid,” Wendy Likes, information and communications manager for the Mesa County Sheriff’s Office, said of the recent revelation.

Jameson Perez, a neighbor who remembered Amanda Overstreet, said, “We were all guessing who it was. We started thinking, ‘Could it have been that little girl that was there?'”

The Mesa County Sheriff’s Office worked with the Colorado Bureau of Investigation on this case. The Sheriff’s Office says DNA taken from the head and hands belongs to Amanda Overstreet, and the last time she was seen was in 2005. She was never reported missing.

Overstreet’s remains were found in a freezer after the home’s new owners attempted to clear out what was left of the property. The house has changed drastically since then.

Perez says there were signs of foul play even before the discovery of Overstreet’s remains. “I was walking my dogs about once a day, and when I walked past the house I could just smell mold. It would make you sick if you walked past it.”

He even told us the last time he saw Amanda Overstreet: “The last time we saw the little girl was when she was on her way to school.”

The Mesa County Sheriff’s Office continues to investigate. We will continue to bring you the latest information as it becomes available.

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