Nearly a year after an elderly woman was found dead in a chest freezer in Allied Gardens, a newly unsealed report from the San Diego County Medical Examiner's Office is revealing new details about how she got there.
While San Diego police disclosed last week they believed Mary Margaret Haxby-Jones’ husband, Robert Haxby, was the one who put his wife's body in the freezer -- possibly for financial purposes -- the newly obtained autopsy report included previously unreported investigative details that may provide some answers as to how.
The autopsy report had been under law enforcement seal until last week when the San Diego Police Department determined their investigation -- which started on Dec. 22, 2023, when the body was located -- "inactive pending any additional or new information brought forward." Haxby himself died last Feb. 3.
The autopsy report said Haxby contacted an unnamed friend roughly nine years ago after his wife passed away presumably from natural causes at the age of 72. He then coerced that friend at gunpoint to assist him in placing her body inside the chest freezer, which was kept in the backyard, against the wall of the Zion Avenue home, according to the report.
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The report said that friend kept Haxby-Jones’ death a secret until Haxby suffered a stroke in late 2023. Only when it appeared likely that Haxby would pass away did that friend contact Haxby-Jones’ family, who in turn called 911.
As part of their investigation, San Diego police contacted the Social Security Administration and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs to determine whether Haxby-Jones' death had been concealed so that her benefits would continue being paid.
SDPD said it is unclear beyond a reasonable doubt exactly when Haxby-Jones died, so they could not substantiate a criminal case of benefits fraud.
NBC 7 reached out to the San Diego County District Attorney to inquire if criminal charges were possible for the unnamed friend for their role in this case. It referred us to the San Diego Police Department. At the time this article was published, it had yet to respond to our questions.
The autopsy report also goes into more detail about Haxby-Jones' death, explaining that the condition of her body from the effects of the freezer made it impossible to determine what killed her.
However, it does say there were major injuries to her body, and toxicology testing didn’t reveal any commonly-used drugs or poisons.
It also described the woman as morbidly obese with an enlarged heart and signs of heart disease. However, it said that asphyxia by smothering, which may not leave signs of trauma, could not be ruled out.
