A Brooklyn woman was arrested after a severed head and several body parts were found in her refrigerator.
Heather Stines, 45, was arrested Monday evening after police received a tip about the grisly find, sources told .
Stines was not charged. It is unclear who the body parts belong to and DNA testing is underway. It is assumed that the body parts were removed from the apartment.
The NYPD confirmed they were called to the apartment on Nostrand Avenue in Brooklyn at 7:10 p.m. Once there, officers “observed an unconscious and unresponsive unidentified male inside the residence.”
“EMS responded and pronounced the decedent deceased on scene,” the NYPD said in a statement.
The coroner will determine the cause of death and the investigation is ongoing.
It's unclear how long Stines has lived in the apartment, but neighbors told on Tuesday that Stines' home had been broken into at least twice.
Heather Stines, 45, (pictured) was arrested on Monday evening after police received a tip about the grisly find, sources told
The NYPD confirmed they were called to the apartment on Nostrand Avenue in Brooklyn (pictured) at 7:10 p.m. on Monday
A police officer is guarding the house on Tuesday
Stines' elderly aunt, Amy Stines, expressed her shock and horror at the news when reached her on Tuesday.
“Oh God, I just can’t understand this,” said the 79-year-old from Kentucky.
She said her niece had a long-standing drug problem and moved from Kentucky several years ago in hopes of escaping her problems.
According to the aunt, Heather lived with her husband in an apartment in Brooklyn and earned some money cleaning apartments.
She said she reached out to her niece on Sunday to ask how she was doing and to check on things, but received no response.
Heather's husband, Nicholas McGee, has been in a Chesapeake, Virginia, prison since September after he was accused of trying to cash a fraudulent check at a bank, a relative of his told .
McGee was scheduled to appear in court Tuesday morning, said his sister-in-law Catherine McGee, 55.
She told that the couple were both drug addicts, used heroin and crack cocaine and had been arrested several times. She said Heather relapsed a year or two ago after learning that one of her daughters had died of a drug overdose.
The sister-in-law said she had not yet spoken to Nicholas about the police investigation.
“He's going to be completely devastated because he's getting out of prison and she's potentially going to prison for possible murder,” she said.
Stines' aunt Amy said her niece had several children from previous relationships who were taken away from her.
As far as she knew, Child Protective Services took the children away after discovering she was neglected.
Body parts were found in a freezer in Apartment 4C at 2069 Nostrand Avenue, Brooklyn
Heather Stines, 45, was arrested Monday night after police received a tip about a severed head and body parts in the refrigerator at her Brooklyn home
“The worst thing I know is that she lost her children because someone reported them sleeping on the floor because she had no beds,” the aunt said.
“She said she threw away the beds because of bed bugs. They slept on pallets.'
“My husband said we should buy them some beds and when we knew she didn't have any children,” she added.
“She moved in with her cousin and then stole her computer. She also stole some money from me and my husband. She would just run away. You couldn't do anything with her.'
“Even though she was evil, she was sweet,” said the aunt. “She was as nice as one could be.”
A few years ago, the aunt recalled, “Heather said she had to get out of here.” And I said, you think New York is better than here? I told her there are more drugs in New York.
“She said she would eventually go back to Kentucky and I would let her stay with me,” she continued.
“But she never came back. She texted me sometimes over the years to get money. I always asked her if she was in trouble and she said, “No, I’m just running low.”