A family member cleaning out a Juneau, Alaska property after the death of Sheryl Ann McDonald-Pasquan found something no one expects to find in a storage shed: a locked chest freezer containing human remains. Police later identified the body as Ross Pasquan, McDonald-Pasquan’s husband, who would have been 74. The Alaska State Medical Examiner’s Office determined he died of natural causes from severe cardiovascular disease, with his remains placed in the freezer sometime between 2018 and 2025.
According to Juneau police, McDonald-Pasquan never reported her husband’s death. Instead, investigators say she continued applying for and receiving his benefits, including Social Security, retirement payments, and Alaska Permanent Fund Dividend checks. A retirement provider was reportedly still depositing monthly payments into Pasquan’s account as of July 2026, more than a year after McDonald-Pasquan died on July 14, 2025.
The case is now closed because the suspect has died, and investigators found no evidence that anyone else caused Pasquan’s death or helped conceal the remains or collect the benefits. It leaves behind a bigger question about how deaths can go unreported for years while benefit payments continue uninterrupted. What do you think should change about how these systems verify that recipients are still alive?
