Mother Kept In Freezer

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Dead mother kept in freezer for years

Apr. 25, 2005 05:55 PM

LA CROSSE, Wis. - A man accused of holding off police for nearly 15 hours by threatening them with explosives told officers he kept his dead mother in a freezer for years while he collected her Social Security checks, authorities said Monday.

Philip Schuth, 52, told police his elderly mother, Edith, died of natural causes in August 2000, but he didn't tell anyone because he was afraid police would blame him, according to a documents filed in court Monday.

Years earlier his mother was attacked by a cat, resulting in her blood landing on the walls in the house they shared, and he was worried he'd be charged with murder, according to the document.

Police recovered the chest-type freezer in Schuth's basement after he eventually surrendered. Inside they found what they think is a human body, frozen in mounds of ice in a seated position. Schuth told investigators he had no other means of income other than his mother's Social Security checks, the court document said.

La Crosse County Circuit Judge Ramona Gonzalez set Schuth's bail at $100,000 Monday, and the district attorney said he expected to charge Schuth next week.

Schuth said almost nothing in court, except to pronounce his last name as "shoof." He rocked in his chair as he waited to face the judge.

Investigators found the freezer at the end of an all-night standoff at Schuth's home in the Town of Campbell, located on French Island in the Mississippi River about 110 miles northwest of Madison.

The standoff began Friday when 10-year-old Josh Russell told his father, Randy, that Schuth hit him in Schuth's yard.

Randy Russell, his wife, Melissa, and Josh Russell confronted Schuth. Schuth admitted he hit the boy, then pulled out a handgun and opened fire from about eight yards away, according to the court document. Randy Russell was hit three times before the family fled and called police. Russell was treated and released at a La Crosse hospital later that night.

Schuth, meanwhile, retreated into his house. Three SWAT teams arrived, and Schuth told negotiators he had "more than 10 but less than 100" bombs in the house and 16 firearms, and it would be "high noon" when he surrendered, according to the court documents.

"We were all in danger," said La Crosse County Sheriff's Capt. Jeff Wolf, who led the SWAT teams.

Wolf said Schuth watched the standoff on the TV news while he talked with officers, who eventually talked him into surrendering early Saturday morning without incident.

Wolf declined to detail how they calmed down Schuth, saying only that Schuth told them he has no family and "almost appeared happy he had someone to talk to."

Schuth said his mother was from England and his father, an American, had fought in one of the world wars. Schuth told police he was born in Germany and held only part-time jobs. He graduated from a La Crosse high school and lived most of his life on French Island, but investigators had little more information on him, Wolf said.

Schuth was known around French Island for walking around in a coat and wader-style rubber boots, even in warm weather.

"I know of him and I saw him and I knew where he lived. He walked the streets, the sidewalks of the Town of Campbell all the time," said state Sen. Dan Kapanke, a Republican who lives three blocks from Schuth.

Investigators found 15 to 20 homemade explosive devices, packed with nails, heavy staples and other metal items. Schuth referred to the devices as "anti-personnel," court documents said. They also found a sawed-off shotgun along with 15 other firearms.

Inside the freezer, police found a block of ice. They chipped away at it and uncovered a human knee. The ice block was taken to Hastings, Minn., where investigators were still working to chip it apart Monday. Wolf said a body appears to be in the block, intact in a sitting position.

The body has yet to be identified. An autopsy is expected to be completed late this week.

Court documents said investigators also found $10,000 in cash in the house and checks for a joint account Schuth held with his mother.

Schuth told investigators his mother's Social Security checks are deposited into that account. He once switched the account to a different bank after an employee questioned whether his mother was still alive, Schuth told authorities.

Schuth said he continues to receive Social Security deposits electronically in the joint account, which investigators say contained about $25,000.

Schuth told investigators the money wouldn't last more than five years, and he was thinking about killing himself with a "12-gauge lobotomy" or committing armed robbery so he would go to jail.

County land records showed the home is valued at $56,200, and ownership remains in the name of Edith Schuth.

La Crosse County District Attorney Scott Horne said he plans to charge Schuth next week with attempted homicide and reckless endangerment for allegedly shooting at the Russell family, as well as having improvised explosives, concealing a corpse and possessing a short-barrelled shotgun.