A homeowner made a grim discovery Thursday while cleaning out a rental unit on a property in Santa Ana, California.

The homeowner found a woman's body in the refrigerator of a detached garage in the 1000 block of N. Jackson Street, according to Santa Ana police spokesman Corporal Anthony Bertagna.

The garage had been rented out as a separate unit, and had been vacated recently. The homeowner was cleaning it out in preparation of renting it again.

"While doing that, they opened the refrigerator and they located what appears to be a female body and that's when they called us," Bertagna said. "Homicide is now here to investigate — is this in fact natural causes? Is it an overdose? Are there signs of trauma? — that this is, in fact, a homicide. Those are the questions that they need to answer."

Investigators said the refrigerator was still running, which likely slowed the body's decomposition. The woman's identity was not immediately known.

Detectives are looking for the previous residents of the unit, but it's not clear exactly when they moved out.