Police have arrested 31-year-old Arturo Novoa and 34-year-old Katrina Layton, and have charged both of them with abuse of a corpse. The couple was arrested after a friend of theirs discovered the remains of the woman in a locked freezer, and then immediately called the police on them.
The body has not yet been positively identified, but authorities believe she is 28-year-old Shannon Graves, who was reported missing in June. However, it had been several months since anyone had last seen the Ohio woman.
When Graves disappeared sometime in February, her loved ones weren't alarmed. The woman had a history of disappearing for short periods of time on her own. However, after not hearing from her after several months, her family members decided it was time to report her missing. Unfortunately, they were far too late. Police aren't sure what happened to the woman in the freezer, but evidence suggests that the couple purchased the appliance together shortly after Shannon was last seen.
Also disturbing, detectives say that Katrina Layton -- the girlfriend of Arturo Novoa -- assumed the life of Shannon Graves soon after she vanished. She began caring for her dog, using her items, spending her money. She was also driving the car owned by Shannon Graves. For all intents and purposes, she was living Graves' life.
A friend of Novoa told police that he was asked to hold onto the locked freezer. The friend, who hasn't been identified in media reports, says that he became suspicious after a while and decided to break into it. That's when he found the remains of the young woman, which prompted him to call the police.