A woman has been arrested in North Carolina after her mother's body was discovered in a freezer she sold at a yard sale.

Marcella Jean Lee, 56, was charged on Thursday with concealing and failure to report a death, more than three months after selling the chest freezer to her neighbour for $30.

Ms Lee had told her neighbour not to open the appliance when she sold it to her in May, saying it was being used as a time capsule and that church members would come by at some point to collect the contents inside.

However, the neighbour opened it up later to find the body of Arma Roush, the 75-year-old mother of Ms Lee, whom police had been looking for since the discovery.