Neighbors share their memories of Amanda Overstreet

GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. (KJCT) – In January, a severed head and hand were found in a freezer at a home along Pinyon Avenue in Grand Junction. The remains were recently identified as Amanda Overstreet, who was 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 child. She was 16 years old. She’s just a child,” Wendy Likes, information and communications manager for the Mesa County Sheriff’s Office, said of the latest revelation.

Jameson Perez, a neighbor who remembered Amanda Overstreet, said: “We were all guessing who it was. We started thinking, 'Was it the little girl that was there?'”

The Mesa County Sheriff's Office worked with the Colorado Bureau of Investigation on the case. The sheriff's office says DNA from the head and hands belongs to Amanda Overstreet and the last record of her being 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 what was left of the property. Since then, the home has changed drastically.

Perez says there were signs of crime even before Overstreet's remains were discovered. “I was walking my dogs about every other day and when I walked past the house it just smelled like mold. It would make you sick walking by.”

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 is continuing its investigation. We will continue to provide you with the latest information as it becomes available.

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