Police, Dogs Search Home Where Body Was Discovered in Freezer

Dogs trained to find cadavers searched a basement Monday in the home of a man charged with murdering a Newport Beach woman missing since 1991.

Authorities also checked on the safety of women whose names turned up in the files of John Joseph Famalaro, who was arrested Wednesday in connection with the death of Denise Huber. But there was no immediate sign of new victims.

Sheriff’s deputies found a battered body, later identified as Huber’s, in a freezer inside a long-overdue rental truck parked outside a home in an affluent neighborhood.

“We would be premature to . . . try to speculate if we have any additional victims,” said Yavapai County Sheriff G.C. (Buck) Buchanan. “We have not seen anything to indicate (that) so far. We’re trying to keep a very open mind on this at this time.”

The naked body in the freezer was identified Saturday as that of Huber. She disappeared June 3, 1991, on the way home from a concert, leaving no clues beyond a car sitting with a flat tire beside a Southern California freeway.

Famalaro, 37, a home remodeler and real estate salesman, was arrested after the body was found Wednesday. He was held for investigation of murder and felony theft in the Yavapai County jail on $250,000 bail. The theft charge involved the Ryder truck, which was never returned after it was rented in El Toro in January.

Buchanan, clad in cowboy boots and hat, directed about 40 deputies and volunteers searching Famalaro’s home in Prescott Country Club, a development outside this hamlet 75 miles northwest of Phoenix. They spent much of the day hauling out 3,000 to 4,000 cans of paint stored in the basement and in a 14-by-35-foot area dug out of the hillside in which the home is set.

In addition to the cache of full and partly full paint cans, the home was cluttered with boxes, magazines and other odds and ends, said sheriff’s spokeswoman Laurie Berra.

“It looks like he saved every magazine he ever got,” Berra said.

Two dogs and handlers from the Rocky Mountain Rescue volunteer organization in Salt Lake City took part in the search. Buchanan said the dogs showed interest in two spots in the dug-out area Sunday, and they were taken back in at least twice Monday.

Searchers in Arizona and other states worked to track down about 10 women whose names appeared in records in the house and found at least five of them unharmed, Buchanan said. He refused to describe the documents but said at least some of the women apparently were in contact with Famalaro through his business.

Sheriff’s deputies said Famalaro ran a home remodeling and painting business, and his lawyer said he had most recently worked as a real estate salesman. Prescott defense attorney Lawrence William Katz said he had advised his client against public comment and refused to discuss the case other than to say Famalaro is innocent. He refused to say whether Famalaro knew Huber or if he was aware of the body in the truck.