WARNING!: Description below may be disturbing to some readers.

This is a cold case I had only heard of recently after the woman's identity was announced nationally in February 2023.  While some closure has been made, the killer has yet to be identified.

This view shows Bacon Island Road as it follows alongside Whiskey Slough west of Stockton, California.  The road has been & is still a dumping ground for trash.  On March 29, 1995 at 3:20PM, Floyd Lee Thomas & a couple other individuals were scavenging metal cans & other items for recycling when he spotted a partially submerged gold-colored 1983 Frigidaire refrigerator that was tied shut at this location, likely dumped here.

When the rope was cut & the fridge opened, they dug through a patched faux fur waterbed quilt and a Hillary brand sleeping bag before stumbling upon the remains of a woman. 

The woman was Caucasian with long strawberry blond hair, beautiful white teeth, well cared-for nails and wore a engagement ring on her right hand as if the ring was a remembrance to a mother that passed away. She wore expensive hiking boots with funky blue stripped toe socks.  These socks had five shades of blue and were closer to knee height than ankle height.  She also wore Levi jean shorts, a white tee shirt and blue sweat shirt.  Under her clothes was a Victoria Secret bra and no underwear.  She had been bound with her hands behind her back with electrical tape and the tape was also wrapped around her head where it held a sock in place that was used as a gag.  The coroner determined that the cause of death was a blow to the right temporal lobe. 

The woman's body had transformed into a condition called adipocere.  Adipocere occurs when a body is stored in a damp oxygen free environment at a consistent normal temperature.  The fat in the body converts to a wax like texture preserving the body but also making it very stiff.  Adipocere occurs more commonly with female bodies because female bodies contain more fat.  It usually takes months for the adipocere conversion to take place but it can happen within weeks under the perfect conditions. 

The original detective on the case did not believe this woman was a street person.  He felt that she would be missed by family or friends but to date, no identification has been made for her making him believe that she was likely not from the local area.  He also felt that she was likely the victim of an abduction based on the gag and bindings. 

San Joaquin County Sheriff's office has not entered the Refrigerator Lady in NaMus but she has been featured on a number of local media TV and newspaper stories and she also was featured on a national TV show.  Volunteer missing/unidentified people researchers have suggested numerous possible matches for Refrigerator Lady but none have matched to date.  They do have DNA and dental records for the unidentified woman that have been put into Codis.  The original detective, who is now retired, has continued to work on identifying this woman. 

The detective had some items found with the woman to research.  There was the refrigerator itself.  The Frigidaire refrigerator had been manufactured in the 1980's in Pennsylvania but was sold in Oakland.  The warranty card had never been returned so the manufacturer did not know who the owner was.  There was an unopened bag of Glacier Ice that was sold to convenience and bait stores in the Antioch area around Bacon Island in the east bay.  It was dated August 1994 & is surmised that the decedent was killed sometime b/w the date on the bag & 30 days before her body was found.

There were five small empty milk cartons in the freezer.  When their origin was checked, the detective found they were sourced out of Sacramento and were distributed to schools, hospitals and other large institutions in the area.  Black electrician’s tape was also found & was of National Industrials brand.

Also located in the refrigerator was a Ghioccio brand reusable ice bag; a rust/black/tan fake fur type bedspread; a Rubbermaid ice bucket; an inner pillow case; a JCPenney pillow; a blue bath towel; a white sheet; a multi colored Canon Comforter; a Wendy’s ketchup container; a Kentucky Fried Chicken honey container; a blue blanket; a white blanket; a Hillary brand sleeping bag and two blue ear pieces with one piece of string.

From the refrigerator’s serial number, it had been manufactured in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in the 1980s and sold in Oakland."

Detectives say that the items found inside of the refrigerator lead them to believe that the fridge had resided in the East Bay. They came to this conclusion because the items that they found all had ties to that area. Some of the cities associated were; Richmond, Antioch, Pittsburgh, Oakley, and Brentwood. The electrician's tape used to tie up the victim had been purchased at the military surplus store in Oakley. There was an unopened bag of Ice from the Glacier Ice Co. which is produced in Fremont and shipped only to the East Bay. There were miniature milk cartons in the icebox that are used mainly in hospitals, schools, or institutions.

Fast forward 27 years in 2022 when investigators from San Joaquin County got in touch with Othram, a company that uses forensic genealogy to assist law enforcement with unsolved crimes. Othram scientists used the woman’s bones to develop a DNA profile and then passed that information along to their forensic genealogists; they used that profile to find potential relatives, leading sheriff’s office detectives to a possible mother and daughter of the victim.  Those women gave DNA samples and, when compared to the victim, were a match.  The “lady in the fridge” was identified as Amanda Lynn Schumann Deza, born August 11, 1965.

Deza was 29 when she died and had a husband and three children. At the time of her disappearance in 1994, she was separated from her family; she was last seen at an unknown apartment complex in Napa in the company of a man she met at a rehab facility. That individual’s identity is not known. Sheriff’s office investigators said there was no missing person report filed, but her family did search for her. 

"We've spoken to several family members and they're grateful that we've identified, but they are cautious," the sheriff's department said. "They were obviously shocked by the news, but they too are hopeful we can get some type of resolution for them."  Deza is believed to have lived in Napa, Oakley and the Delta in the years leading up to her death. Investigators have not named any persons of interest in the case & there is currently a $10,000 reward by Stockton Crime Stoppers for information leading to her killer. 

On another note, nearly ten years prior to this lady in the fridge discovery, another deceased woman was found inside a discarded refrigerator along a state highway on April 1, 1985 in Knox County, Kentucky.  It wouldn't be until 33 years later on October 1, 2018 that a DNA link would identify her as Espy Regina Pilgrim.

A refrigerator found outside of Walsenburg, Colorado in 1999 also had skeletal remains of a Jane Doe w/ leftover trash dating from 1988 to 1992.  Her identity remains unknown at this time.

From: https://earonsgsk.proboards.com/search/results?captcha_id=captcha_search&what_at_least_one=stockton+march+29+1995+woman+refrigerator&who_only_made_by=0&display_as=0&g-recaptcha-response=03ADUVZwBpjGEEZJrVb5ZbEntzittqnFW9495HrwqT7u-LlCv-r8iYmpmUB-KGuvSkzDk6WBD2kqR7Reldc4AHa-f6IMYfMGV9N7y1Xkh0sORHvKCc31hEFHp4D5swI401rCrD4N7ncIf94QoKz7GCtqu8A0AFTzJQkS80R4Vd7oQHh9mwpsQD3yrr01Qbq4_nddiVeXwOdGtF-ASy9RHKF90kP15v4HWOEZ3kOuSaJumH8VHi_d6F15DBwCZpuiAr_-OKNUUjokgFlSRIWWOlhYq4ZBs8o5FidNXeuONvF2sFzD6y0YKqHtXPaSGv0r_3RrrjkQaZkKpWIOwolbb4hCYL6SzJyy1kNOlu5nyAj7pDojuXEw1_9vWK2gg7VomB_lfhPXVdXAh576KUteM07cP-y3njEY2k6Fq8m6dVW-ZR_OMkmB8yoqXHJqovbsKebZ7cn2N6FtFRhgqsqUgg8L7K25VThRHC8pcLlz-Ii-KKtT7FRBKE4VviLiZjCcsi14dLZR4f3LCDmXF3RYigcd2MGYD-sRm7DK6ymilik2-EkiTLBXkwAnw

https://www.doenetwork.org/cases/320ufca.html?fbclid=IwAR1CgVg46C1SEP6m95S1wBV-oDUWMWI9_cRXBg_0CLFozwt_hLiiwfVqjas

https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/lady-in-the-fridge-victim-identified-17810413.php