‘There’s a person in here’: Video shows moments before discovery of woman’s body in freezer
Before police found a woman in a freezer, Daniel Roush, who became the suspect in her death, told police the woman was out of town visiting her brother.
Roush, 38, who is transgender and also goes by the name Jazlynn Roush, faces murder, abuse, burglary and drug charges in connection with the death of 68-year-old Monique Gilbertson. Gina Lopez, Roush’s wife, was indicted alongside Roush and faces burglary and drug possession counts.
Gilbertson’s body was found stored in a freezer inside her mobile home in the east Las Vegas Valley on Nov. 6.
Body camera footage shows Metropolitan Police Department officers on Gilbertson’s porch as someone worked to unlock the door. Roush eventually came to the door and claimed to be house sitting and renting the home.
Asked where Gilbertson was, Roush told police: “She left town for a while.”
An officer replied: “No, she didn’t.”
Roush insisted that Gilbertson had “an emergency” and went to visit her brother on the East Coast. Gilbertson’s half brother, Fred Carstens, previously said in an interview that he believes he last saw his sister in 1982.
Roush also said Gilbertson had called the day before police visited the house.
Police told Roush they were going to do a welfare check.
“You need to step outside right now,” an officer said in the video. “I’m giving you a legal and lawful command. If you do not obey that command, I’m going to take you to jail, and I’m going to charge you.”
As they continued speaking with Roush, police said in the video that they were getting suspicious.
“It’s weird that you are being very defensive about this,” an officer said.
When police entered the dark and cluttered house, they found urine and feces “everywhere,” an officer said in the video. After a few minutes, officers began examining a white chest freezer that was locked. They cleared fabric off the top.
“He’s freaking out, saying we can’t open it,” an officer said.
But police did open it.
Inside, they found a white tarp. An officer lifted it and said, “There’s a person in here. Go get him in handcuffs.”
Gina Lopez, who also said she occasionally stayed in the mobile home, told police that Roush was providing Gilbertson with drugs, according to grand jury transcripts. She told police that Roush said Gilbertson had overdosed, and Roush smothered Gilbertson with a pillow before putting the woman in the freezer.
Gilbertson had fentanyl in her system when she died, court records show.
Roush initially denied giving Gilbertson any drugs, but later told police about purchasing narcotics for Gilbertson. Lopez also later admitting to helping Roush place Gilbertson in the freezer, according to grand jury transcripts.
Gilbert Brown, a friend of Gilbertson, described her as a lonely person who wanted friends. He said her drug use and other personal problems were “her downfall.”
“She had an addiction to legal and illegal drugs, mostly cocaine,” said Brown. “And that just caused problems.”
Contact Noble Brigham at nbrigham@reviewjournal.com. Follow @BrighamNoble on X.