Oregon couple found in freezer; son charged with murder

An Oregon man killed his parents and hid their bodies in a freezer, authorities say.

Jeremy Ringquist, 38, was charged with aggravated murder on Thursday after cops in Springfield forced their way into the home he shared with his parents and found two frozen corpses, police said.



The son was bleeding from self-inflicted wounds when officers entered on Tuesday, and paramedics rushed him to the hospital, authorities said.


He was released on Thursday and promptly jailed on the murder charges.

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Investigators have yet to officially identify the bodies, but they suspect they are Ringquist’s parents — Karen Ringquist, 65, and her 63-year-old husband Randy Ringquist.

SPRINGFIELD POLICE DEPARTMENT/AP
Jeremy Ringquist, 38, was charged on Thursday with the murder of his parents, whom police found stuffed in a freezer in their home in Springfield, Ore., authorities say.
An out-of-state relative tipped off police when he couldn’t reach the family by phone.

Karen Ringquist’s cousin, Mark Cestaric, claimed he last spoke to her on May 22.

He told the Register-Guard she’d been abused by her husband for years. When her son moved home from Chicago after a divorce, he abused her too, he said.

“Her life was miserable and I tried to tell her to get out,” Cestaric told the Register-Guard. “I said, ‘You’ve got to get out of there,’ but she said she had no money and no place to go. There’s no relatives close. I’m probably her closest relative...”

Cestaric claimed he pleaded with cops for more than a week to check on his cousin. An officer visited the house on Monday and found a note on the door claiming the family was out of town.

When he returned the next day, Jeremy Ringquist dialed 911 and asked for a police negotiator. Authorities did what he asked, but when no one responded to their calls, they forced the door and found the horrific scene.

Police haven’t said how the couple died or given any motive for the dual homicides.


KMTR-TV
Police found two bodies, believed to be Karen and Randy Ringquist, stuffed in a freezer in their home in Springfield, Ore., authorities say.

KMTR-TV
Cops forced the door on a Springfield, Ore., home and found an elderly couple dead in a freezer and their son bleeding from self-inflicted wounds, authorities say.

KMTR-TV
The Ringquist home in Springfield, Ore., is blocked off with crime scene tape after cops discovered the couple’s bodies inside a freezer.
Jeremy Ringquist described himself as a seasoned engineer with more than a decade of experience, mostly in the Chicago suburbs, in his LinkedIn profile.

But neighbors claimed he had returned home six months ago a broken man following a divorce.

“He lost his family, his wife, his children, and mentally... collapsed, and physically he wasn’t so good so he could find a job anymore,” neighbor Byung Jun told the Register-Guard.

Authorities booked Ringquist on Thursday into Lane County jail.