Alabama father charged in death of teen son found in backyard freezer has died awaiting trial

An Alabama man awaiting trial in the death of his special needs son has died.

Michael Shane Halstead and Karen Tysinger Halstead, both 44, were charged late last year with reckless manslaughter and corpse abuse in the death of their son, 19-year-old Logan Halstead, whose remains were found in a backyard freezer.

Michael Halstead died at 7:45 p.m. on July 7, according to court records made public this week. A cause of death was not immediately available, but he was out of jail on bond when he died..

Karen Halstead’s trial is scheduled for December.

Logan Halstead was found dead Oct. 29, 2023. He had suffered from spina bifida as well as other conditions since his birth. The teen’s decomposed body was discovered that Sunday outside the family’s previous home on Bradford Drive in Headland.

According to court records, the teen’s body was wrapped in plastic bags and blankets and placed in a cardboard box. That box was then put in the freezer.

Henry County Sheriff Eric Blankenship said the sheriff’s office received a 911 call at 11:37 a.m. about a dead body at that location. When deputies arrived on scene, they found a decomposed body inside a freezer in the backyard of the home.

The sheriff said the victim may have died as early as July or August.

Blankenship said the family had moved away from the home - which they rented - more than a month ago. The owner had recently sold the property and the new owners were cleaning up when they made the gruesome discovery. They came upon the freezer in the backyard, and it was too heavy to load up on the trailer to move so they were going to clean it out before hauling it away.

When they opened it up and began moving things around, they saw a hand and immediately called 911.

The victim’s parents were taken into custody later that Sunday.

According to charging documents, the parents “recklessly and consciously disregarded the treatment of Logan which resulted in his death.”