Residents of Allied Gardens in San Diego, California, expressed shock and concern after a body was found inside a home in their neighborhood (Picture: Google)

A body found in a freezer by family members visiting a relative for the holidays has been identified as an elderly woman who was believed to have been missing for nine years.

Out-of-town family members made the grisly discovery in a chest freezer at their relative’s home in San Diego, California, on December 22.

The remains belonged to 81-year-old Mary Margaret Haxby-Jones, police said on Thursday.

‘Based on the investigation to this point, detectives believe it is possible that Haxby-Jones may have been missing or dead for up to nine years,’ said San Diego police Lt Jud Campbell.

Police identified the remains on Thursday as belonging to an 81-year-old woman (Picture: CBS 8 San Diego)

He added that ‘no obvious traumatic injury to the body was noted’.

The medical examiner’s office is determining her cause of death.

Haxby-Jones resided at the home on the 4900 block of Zion Avenue in the Allied Gardens neighborhood before dying, said police, according to The San Diego Union-Tribune.

The case is being investigated as a suspicious death due to the unusual circumstances on how the body was discovered.

Out-of-town family members discovered the body in a chest freezer on December 22 (Picture: KGTV)

Visiting family members called police when they found the body in the freezer just before noon, three days before Christmas. They have not been named.

Investigators believed the victim was a woman, but could not determine an age or race due to the level of decomposition. In December, it was also not clear if traumatic injuries were involved in the death and detectives noted the ‘unusual location’ of the body.

‘Detectives are continuing to gather information to understand what happened and why the body was inside the freezer,’ police said at the time.

Police are investigating the case as a suspicious death due to the unusual location where the body was found (Picture: CBS 8 San Diego)

No arrests have been made in the case.

Anyone with information on Haxby-Jones is asked to contact the homicide unit or Crime Stoppers.

Neighbors after learning of the body said they were surprised because they considered the area very safe. The Allied Gardens neighborhood is in the eastern Navajo community of San Diego.

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A body found in a freezer by family members visiting a relative around the holidays has been identified as a woman missing for nine years.