Associated Press

Tuesday, 3 p.m. update:

A Mississippi sheriff accuses a man of killing his roommate and stuffing him in a freezer.

Jackson County Sheriff Mike Ezell tells media that a capital murder warrant has been issued for 40-year-old Thomas Elliot Stafford.

Investigators believe Stafford killed 65-year-old Jerry Floyd Kirkendall sometime around March 3, when a landlord last saw Kirkendall.

The landlord found Kirkendall's body in an unplugged freezer Monday, saying he was alerted by a horrible smell.

Ezell says Stafford also stole a gold Cadillac from Kirkendall. The second alleged crime means Stafford could face the death penalty.

Ezell says he believes Stafford has left Jackson County and the U.S. Marshal's Service is helping search.

Jackson County Coroner Vicki Broadus tells the Sun Herald that an autopsy is pending and cause of death is undetermined.

ORIGINAL STORY:

LATIMER, Miss. - A south Mississippi landlord says a “horrible smell” led him Monday to the body of a tenant he’d last seen three weeks ago.

“I finally made it to the freezer. I opened the freezer and there he was,” Michael Woods told WLOX-TV.

He said he went out and called police immediately.

“It freaked me out. … I shut the freezer down and got out of there. And I ain’t been back, other than in the yard,” Woods said.

Investigators want to question an unidentified man who may have left in the victim’s 2001 gold Cadillac, Jackson County Sheriff Mike Ezell told news outlets Monday.

The victim’s name is being withheld until he is positively identified, The Sun Herald reported.

Investigators believe the “person of interest” had been living in the house, Ezell said.

He said the freezer had been off for an extended period, WLOX reported.

Coroner Vicki Broadus said an autopsy is scheduled Tuesday.

The owner of the home said he last saw the tenant March 3. Authorities told the newspaper that, based on store video that shows him wearing the clothes he was found in, that is likely the day he died.

Detectives were looking to see whether a neighbor’s surveillance system had any details, the TV station reported.