LANCASTER, Penn. (WHDH) — A man removed a human head from his freezer before admitting to repeatedly stabbing and dismembering what he described as a “cadaver doll” that looked like his father in Lancaster, Pennsylvania on Wednesday morning, police said.

A woman called police to check on the welfare of family members at an apartment on W. Strawberry Street just before 9 a.m. after one of the residents, identified as Donald Meshey, Jr., 32, told her that there was a cadaver in one of the beds and a head in the freezer, according to the Lancaster Police Department.

Responding officers spoke further with the woman who reportedly said she had just been inside the residence and spoke with Meshey, adding that she saw what she believed to be the head of one of her family members in the freezer.

The officers went into the apartment and Meshey escorted them to the kitchen, where he took out what appeared to be a human head from the freezer, police said.

The Lancaster County Coroner’s Office later confirmed that the head from the freezer was a human head.

Meshey was brought to the police station and during an interview with detectives, he allegedly said he found what he described as a “cadaver doll” in his father’s bedroom that looked and sounded like his father.

He admitted to stabbing the “cadaver doll” for two to three minutes with a knife and then dismembering the body, police said.

Investigators are working to confirm the identity of the deceased victim.

Meshey was arrested and is facing charges of criminal homicide, abuse of a corpse, and tampering with or fabricating physical evidence.

No additional information has been released.

An investigation remains ongoing.

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