Human head found in Brooklyn refrigerator after Crime Stoppers tip

Police found human remains inside a refrigerator at a Brooklyn apartment earlier this week in what is now being treated as a homicide linked to a narcotics dispute, according to two senior NYPD officials with direct knowledge of the investigation.

The investigation on Nostrand Avenue began after Crime Stoppers received an anonymous tip on Jan. 22, said Joseph Kenny, the NYPD's chief of detectives.

The tipster indicated the possibility of a dead body being stored in the third-floor apartment's refrigerator, sources said. 

The woman who lives in the apartment let officers into the residence when they responded to the Crime Stoppers tip on Monday evening. Once inside, the cops' attention was drawn to a conspicuously taped-up refrigerator, sources said.

When the officers tried to inspect it, the woman allegedly became combative, leading to her arrest and subsequent removal from the scene, sources said.

Inside the refrigerator, officers discovered black plastic bags containing what appeared to be parts of a human body, including a head, Kenny said.

Detectives from the 67th Detective Squad and Brooklyn South Homicide subsequently confirmed the presence of human remains.

The woman, now in police custody and undergoing psychiatric evaluation at Brookdale Hospital, revealed to detectives that the body belonged to a local drug dealer who had a dispute with her husband last September, sources said.

According to the woman, her husband killed the man and stored the body in their refrigerator. She claimed she did not witness the killing and noted that her husband is currently imprisoned in Virginia on an unrelated crime, sources said. It was not immediately clear when the killing took place.

Investigators have identified the victim as Kawsheen Gelzer, who was previously arrested for offenses including dice throwing and assaulting a police officer, sources said.

Gelzer's distinctive tattoos, as noted in his arrest records, matched those observed on the body, aiding in the preliminary identification process. Investigators showed the woman a photo of Gelzer while she was at the hospital and she positively identified him as the individual in the refrigerator, sources said.

Investigators are awaiting a search warrant for the apartment.

The motive is suspected to be a dispute over narcotics, sources said.