Fridge Full of Horror: Couple Was Dismembered in 'Icebox Murders,' and Geophysicist Son Was Nowhere to Be Found

Mar. 15, 2025

Fred Rogers, Edwina Rogers.

The gruesome murders of a Houston couple 60 years ago remain one of the most eerie unsolved cases in the city’s history. And though police have only had one suspect in their sights for decades, the murders remain a breeding ground for conspiracy theories and local legends.

It all started with a chilling discovery on a warm summer afternoon. On June 20, 1965, Houston police found the dismembered bodies of Fred and Edwina Rogers, a local couple who investigators soon determined had been brutally murdered: Fred was beaten with a hammer, and Edwina was executed with a single gunshot to the head. Then, they were cut up and neatly placed in their own icebox.

Detectives recovered a hammer believed to have been used in the Rogers’ killings as well as a saw used to dismember them. According toHoustonia Magazine, investigators further zeroed in on Charles as their primary suspect after blood was found on his bedroom door — but he was never seen after his parents' deaths.

Charles, who’d worked as a geophysicist, spent a lot of time in his bedroom and often only communicated with his parents through notes slid underneath the door, according toHoustonia. The son’s mysterious activity, including his late returns home despite not having a job, led locals to begin theorizing wildly about what he had been up to in the years leading up to his parents’ deaths.

In the intervening decades, some local conspiracy theorists began to baselessly connect Charles to the assassination of John F. Kennedy, according toThe Houston Chronicle, claiming he was a longtime undercover CIA operative.

To tie the wild conspiracy together, theorists claimed Fred and Edwina had uncovered the supposed truth about their son’s alleged CIA activity after finding his diary, compelling him to kill them to keep his secret, according to theChronicle.

TheHouston Pressreportedin 2009 that the conspiracies were rooted in Charles' background as a Navy veteran with a degree in science, along with his habit of rising before dawn and coming home after dark, making neighbors suspicious and compelling them to fill gaps of explanation with their imaginations.

The authorities’ search for Charles continued for a decade before they gave up, according to thePress. The newspaper reports that a local judge officially declared Charles deadin absentiaafter he hadn’t been seen for roughly 10 years, as theories swirled about where he’d gone.

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According toHoustonia Magazine, Charles remained the police’s sole suspect throughout the investigation. Investigators suspected Charles had killed his parents in response to alleged mental and physical abuse, according to the magazine.

A spokesperson for the Houston Police Department did not respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment about the cold case.

source: people.com