Police in Colorado are combing through missing person files to try and identify a person whose decapitated head was discovered in a chest freezer.

The grisly discovery was made when the property – in the 2900 block of Pinyon Avenue, Grand Junction – changed hands earlier this month.

The new owners held a yard sale to try and dispose of some of the bric-a-brac that the previous owners had left behind.

People in hazmat suits were seen at the Grand Junction property – which roused the suspicion of the neighbors

The house had recently changed hands, and the new owners wanted to get rid of the junk left behind

Sam Troester, who lives across the street, said she noticed something strange when people in hazmat suits turned up at the home.

Troester said she learned what had happened when the people intending to buy the freezer came to her door and asked if they could use her restroom.

‘I let them in and cautiously I was like, ‘What’s going on?” she told 9 News. 

‘And they continued to tell me that they opened the freezer to empty it so they could transport it and they said a head fell out. A human head!’

Sheriffs later confirmed that human hands were also found in the freezer.

Sam Troester, who lives across the street, told 9 News that people who came to buy the freezer told her what had happened

‘A thorough and detailed investigation is the top priority,’ the Mesa County Sheriff’s Office wrote in a news release, describing their investigation as a homicide. 

‘Our hope is to positively identify the victim while remaining respectful of the victim and the victim’s family.’

Officials from the sheriff’s office say extensive testing on the human remains is in progress. 

They added: ‘These types of tests take a significant amount of time.’