8/12/2021- 1:20 p.m.
Donald Lawrence Meshey Jr., 32, showed a Lancaster city police officer a human head that was kept in the freezer at 202 West Strawberry Street, according to police. Meshey is charged with homicide, abuse of a corpse and tampering with or fabricating physical evidence.
Donald Meshey Sr., 67, died of multiple stab wounds to his body, according to Lancaster County Coroner Dr. Stephen Diamantoni, who completed the autopsy on Thursday morning.
Lancaster police first arrived at the house after a woman called 911 at 8:51 a.m., reporting that Meshey showed her a human head in the freezer and had said there was a cadaver in his bed last night, but it was no longer there, according to an affidavit of probable cause.
When police arrived, Meshey walked the officer inside and “pulled a human head from the freezer,” police wrote in the affidavit.
Meshey told police that he found the “cadaver doll” in the bedroom and that he stabbed it for two to three minutes.
A cadaver is a dead body, mainly one used for dissection, according to Merriam-Webster. Cadavers are usually used for education and though synthetic cadavers have been gaining popularity, medical schools like Johns Hopkins University were still using real cadavers as recently as 2016.
Meshey said he dismembered his father’s body, put the body parts in large construction-sized garbage bags and put them in the basement of the house, according to the affidavit.
On May 5, District Judge Mary Sponaugle gave him the option of enrolling in anger management counseling and completing six classes. He did not and instead paid a $50 fine and $163 in court costs on July 7, records show.
He moved the head into the freezer on Wednesday, before police arrived, according to the affidavit. Meshey also told police he moved the torso into a 2007 Lincoln Town Car that was outside the house.
