Grieving Husband Keeps Dead Wife’s Body In Freezer

A distressed man, Jiang Maode, 53, who kept his dead wife’s body in an ‘ice coffin’ in his living room for five months so he could talk to her every day is currently being investigated by police in China.

According to DailyMail UK, Jiang has been storing his wife, Yang Huiqing, in his family home in Sichuan, southwest China, for the five months since she died but has no plans to remove the body in the near future.

Maode insists he will keep her body in their home for the rest of his life, but the couple’s son hopes to have his mother cremated at Christmas, reports the People’s Daily Online.

‘Just before she passed away I promised her that I would keep her at home,’ said Maode, who burns incense by the coffin every day.

He has a small shrine in the room, in their home in Tian Yuan County, which is decorated with flowers and photos of his wife.

Maode talks to his wife’s body every day, insisting that he couldn’t bear to be parted from her.

In the meantime, visitors are still willing to pay visits to the house and even let their children play alongside the coffin.

Huiqing, originally from Mianyang, was diagnosed with leukaemia in July 2014 but the diagnosis came too late to save her and she died on December 19.

‘She asked me to take her home,’ said Maode.

‘She couldn’t bear to leave me and I could not bear to be separated from her. I promised her that I would keep her at home after she passed away and when she heard this she was very happy. When I come home I often speak to her for over an hour, talking about everything that had happened that day.’

The couple – who were married for 30 years – met in Sichuan when she was 15 and he was 19.

‘I was wearing yellow shoes and a pair of pants with a big hole in them,’ said Maode.

‘I wasn’t wearing a top and only had a small crop of hair. It was a very bad impression to give her. I was very poor at the time but she never looked down on me. She was still willing to be with me.’

Maode added that after her death he cried every day for 28 days, and lost more than 20lbs.

The couple’s son wants to have his mother’s body cremated at the end of the year, but Jing insisted he couldn’t bear to let that happen and intends to keep her body with him for ever.

Neighbours of the couple said: ‘Even though she has passed away and her body is kept in the house, there are still plenty of visitors. Children also play in the house.’

But Jing is breaking the law in keeping his wife’s body at home, as local law states that only hospitals and funeral parlours can store dead bodies and even then they can only keep them for up to five days.

A police official said: ‘At present we have asked Tian Yuan local authorities to look into the matter.’