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Two charged with kidnapping after body found in freezer

LOWELL, Mass. — Two people have been charged with kidnapping after police found the body of a man inside a freezer at a Massachusetts home.

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Michael Burke and Samantha Perry appeared in Lowell District Court on Monday on kidnapping charges, WFXT reported. Burke and Perry were charged in connection with the death of a 37-year-old man whose body was found at their home Friday.

The Middlesex County district attorney and Lowell police superintendent said in a joint news release that the victim was found after officers were called for a well-being check. Investigators said that “evidence in the home suggested that the man had been restrained in the home at some point.”

According to court documents obtained by WFXT, Burke and Perry told police there was an altercation in the house and a third person strangled the victim using a green rope. Burke and Perry allegedly told police that they were held at gunpoint and forced to duct-tape and tie the victim to a chair and carry him down to the basement.

“I don’t know if there is a murder at this point,” Burke’s attorney, Stanley Norkunas, told WFXT. “It’s the very beginning of what looks like a very complex situation.”

Burke and Perry told officers that they were forced to put the victim’s body into the freezer, and then plug it in and place items on top of it, WFXT reported.

The name of the victim was not released, but police told WFXT that they found the body while searching for a person described as struggling with addiction who had been reported missing by family.