A man accused of torturing and killing his daughter acknowledged in testimony that he kept the 21-year-old's bullet-riddled body in the freezer of his mobile home for two years but claimed he was not responsible for her death.
Clarence Butterfield, 57, said he found his daughter Rebekah dead when he returned home from running errands on Dec. 26, 2006, and put her in the freezer because he thought no one would believe his innocence.
"It was kind of stressful to walk in and see your daughter dead," he said. "I didn't know what to do."
Butterfield also said he hoped she would be resurrected and planned to hold on to the body for at least seven years.
Butterfield is charged with murder and assault with a firearm and could face life in prison without a chance of parole if convicted.
Prosecutors contend he shot his daughter seven times with a small-caliber gun in the leg, foot, knee, the side of her head and elsewhere to torture her, then hog-tied her and stuffed her into the Recreational Vehicle's freezer, where she suffocated.
The body was found by workmen after his mobile home was towed.
