‘She was vulnerable’: Neighbors remember woman found in Las Vegas freezer

The street where a woman’s body was found in a freezer last week was quiet Monday afternoon.

The police were gone, but near the victim’s house in the 5500 block of Tres Piedras Road in the east Las Vegas valley, some crime scene tape was still wrapped around a lamp post.

Her porch was dotted with artificial flower arrangements and her windows had yellow plastic signs warning passersby that they were being recorded by a surveillance camera. Someone had left a vase of fresh flowers next to two dog statues.

Neighbors are upset about what happened to the woman, whose name has still not been released by the Clark County coroner’s office, but who was identified by other residents of her mobile home park as Monique Gilbertson.

“It’s just the saddest thing I’ve ever heard,” said Chris Martin. “Nobody should go like that.”

“She was just an ordinary old lady, basically kept to herself,” he said.

According to the Metropolitan Police Department, the body of a 68-year-old woman was discovered Wednesday in a 55-plus mobile home park after neighbors requested a welfare check and said she hadn’t been seen since late October.

Police have said they found a man and woman inside the house and discovered a locked chest freezer, which contained a woman who appeared to be the occupant of the home.

Daniel Roush, 37, was arrested in connection with her death and faces a second-degree murder charge.

Christine Marshall, a friend of Gilbertson, said she moved to the mobile home park in about 2006 and lived in the house her parents moved to when the complex opened about 40 years ago.

Gilbertson had pets: “two little dogs and five obnoxious parrots or cockatiels,” said Marshall. She was particularly devoted to her chihuahua, which she would dress in outfits that included sunglasses, coats and hats. If Marshall and Gilbertson went on an outing, Marshall would sit in the back of the car, because her friend’s dog had a car seat in the front.

“She was lonely and she was vulnerable,” said Marshall. It was hard to break away from a conversation with her.

Marshall said Gilbertson had a half brother and may have sold real estate years ago.

California state records indicate a person named Monique Gilbertson was licensed as a real estate agent from 1977 to 2009, when her license expired.

Gilbertson was not popular with all of her neighbors.

“I knew her but I didn’t like her,” Marsha Carr said of Gilbertson. Gilbertson pushed Carr to clean up her yard, but the last thing she told Carr was that her yard looked nice, she said.

Gilbertson would bring her dog out when Carr got her mail to irritate her, she said, but hadn’t done that for about three weeks.

Carr is still upset by what happened to Gilbertson.

“It scares the hell out of me,” she said. “I’ve got a freezer to put me and the cat and a couple more in there.”

Contact Noble Brigham at nbrigham@reviewjournal.com. Follow @BrighamNoble on X.