Missing SoCal Man Found in Storage Unit Freezer

Police believe the victim was killed in early 2011

More than two years after he disappeared, the body of a Southern California man has been found in a storage unit freezer in Ventura, police said.

The frozen body was identified as that of Jeffrey Korber, whose family in Laguna Beach reported him missing in July 2011 after not hearing from him for months, according to the Ventura County Police Department.

Korber’s death has been ruled a homicide. Because it is unknown exactly when he died, Korber was 57 or 58 years old when he was killed.

An initial investigation into Korber’s disappearance showed no signs of foul play, and the Laguna Beach Police Department closed the case early last year, Cmdr. Darin Schindler said in a news release Wednesday.

But a break came when homicide investigators learned that Korber was dating and living with Mary “Francesca” Hannan, 66, in Ventura at the time of his death, Schindler said.

A search warrant of Hannan’s home ended in the arrest of her son, Michael Bresnak, 49, of Ventura, Schindler said.

Investigators believe Bresnak killed Korber at his mother’s home and, with the help of Hannan, stored the victim’s body in a storage unit freezer at Ventura Mini Storage, Schindler said.

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The storage facility's manager said Bresnak rented the unit about a year ago and visited daily. The property is under 24-hour surveillance and that evidence has been turned over to police, Michelle Nickerson said.

Bresnak is being held at the Ventura County Jail on a parole violation. Hannan has yet to be arrested or charged in the case.

"We don't have any information that the mother was involved in the killing, but we do believe that, after the fact, she was involved in her helping her son hide the body for the last couple of years," Schindler said.

Anyone with information about the case is asked to call the Ventura Police Department Major Crimes Division at 339-4441.

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