Cops Discover Dead Roommate in Freezer During Welfare Check | HO!!

I. The Call That Wasn’t Supposed to End This Way

The request was routine.

A welfare check—nothing more. The kind of call police departments across the country receive thousands of times a year. A concerned employee at a senior residential community reported that a resident had not been seen or heard from in weeks. Phone calls went unanswered. Dogs inside the home were barking relentlessly. Something felt wrong.

On November 6, officers from the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department were dispatched to the home of Mon’nique Gilbertson, a 68-year-old woman living in a 55-plus community in Las Vegas.

No one expected what they were about to find.

By the end of the night, a routine welfare check would transform into one of the most disturbing homicide scenes responding officers said they had ever encountered—a decomposing body hidden inside a locked chest freezer, just feet away from where the suspected killer stood insisting everything was fine.

II. Two Weeks of Silence

The alarm bells began quietly.

According to staff at the residential community, Mon’nique Gilbertson had last contacted the front office on October 22—nearly two weeks earlier. That alone was unusual. Staff described her as meticulous, communicative, and deeply attached to her pets. She contacted the office multiple times a day and, according to employees, never left without her dogs.

Yet here they were.

Her phone went straight to voicemail. When the office called again, someone answered—but said nothing—before abruptly hanging up. Neighbors reported suspicious activity inside the home. The dogs were agitated, barking nonstop. And despite claims that Gilbertson had “left town,” her car sat parked directly in front of the house.

One additional detail troubled staff even more.

Two weeks earlier, Gilbertson had contacted the office regarding a roommate dispute, telling them she had discovered a firearm among the roommate’s belongings and wanted him gone.

That roommate’s name was Daniel Rou, also known as “Jasine.”

III. A Man at the Door Who Didn’t Belong There

When officers knocked, Daniel Rou answered.

He appeared freshly showered. Calm. Talkative. Immediately defensive.

He told officers he rented the home. Then seconds later, he changed his story—he was house-sitting. Gilbertson, he claimed, had left town unexpectedly to visit her brother on the East Coast.

But when officers asked where she was specifically, his answers became vague. He could not name the city. Could not produce a phone number. Could not explain why her car was still there—or why no one at the front office had any record of him living in the home.

Rou insisted he had paperwork proving he belonged there. He refused to step outside. He cited “legal rights.” He claimed his wife was inside. Then claimed she was showering. Then claimed he needed to warn her before officers could enter.

Each explanation contradicted the last.

Officers noted the defensiveness immediately.

Normal people, one officer later remarked, do not behave this way during welfare checks.

IV. The Lies Begin to Stack

As officers pressed for clarity, Rou’s story continued to unravel.

He claimed Gilbertson had called him from a friend’s phone because her own phone was “paused.” He claimed he spoke to her days earlier—then later admitted he couldn’t reach her the day before. He claimed the front office knew he was there—despite officers having just confirmed the opposite.

More troubling was his resistance to the simplest request: step outside so police could ensure the homeowner was not inside, injured or worse.

The longer Rou spoke, the clearer it became—he was not protecting Gilbertson.

He was protecting something else.

V. Entering the House

Eventually, after repeated lawful commands, Rou and his wife Gina Lopez exited the home.

Officers entered.

What they found immediately raised concern.

The interior was in disarray. Animal feces covered the floors. Drug paraphernalia lay scattered across rooms. The air was heavy with an unfamiliar odor—something sour, something wrong.

Officers cleared room after room.

No Mon’nique.

No sign she had packed for a trip.

No indication she had left voluntarily.

They prepared to leave.

Then someone noticed the freezer.

VI. The Freezer No One Wanted Opened

It was a chest freezer. Locked.

An Allen key secured the lid.

One officer paused. Another leaned closer.

“I know that smell,” one said quietly.

The officers called a locksmith back.

As they waited, Rou began to panic.

He protested. He objected. He demanded they stop.

That reaction confirmed what officers already feared.

When the freezer was finally opened, the smell rushed out first.

Then the truth.

Inside the freezer was Mon’nique Gilbertson—her body folded, forced, and sealed away like discarded property.

An officer stepped back.

Another whispered, “There’s a person in here.”

The welfare check was over.

A homicide investigation had begun.

VII. Immediate Arrests

Daniel Rou and Gina Lopez were taken into custody immediately.

At first, Rou attempted to explain.

He claimed he found Gilbertson unconscious, surrounded by drugs. He said he panicked. He said he didn’t know what to do. He insisted her death was accidental.

The freezer, he claimed, was a desperate mistake.

But forensic evidence would soon expose that story as a lie.

VIII. The Autopsy That Changed Everything

The autopsy results destroyed Rou’s narrative.

Mon’nique Gilbertson did not die from an accidental overdose.

She had more than 200 times the lethal dose of fentanyl in her system.

This was not panic.

This was poisoning.

Investigators concluded that someone had intentionally administered an extraordinary quantity of fentanyl—enough to kill her many times over.

And then someone hid her body.

IX. A Relationship That Turned Toxic

As detectives reconstructed the timeline, the relationship between Gilbertson and Rou came into focus.

The two had met only months earlier—at a Home Depot.

Gilbertson allowed Rou to stay in her home in exchange for helping with chores. But the arrangement deteriorated quickly. Text messages revealed growing tension over cleanliness, theft, and drug use.

Gilbertson believed Rou and Lopez were stealing from her.

She wanted them out.

She told others she feared them.

And she had begun taking steps to reclaim her home.

Prosecutors believe that decision sealed her fate.

X. The Motive Prosecutors Allege

According to prosecutors, Rou responded to the eviction attempt with lethal intent.

They allege he administered fentanyl deliberately—not as an accident, not in panic—but to eliminate Gilbertson and seize control of her home.

When she died, they allege, he placed her body in the freezer to conceal the crime.

Lopez, prosecutors say, helped remain silent and continued living in the home.

For nearly two weeks.

XI. Charges and Consequences

Daniel Rou was indicted on multiple felony charges, including:

Second-degree murder

Abuse of an older or vulnerable person

Drug-related felonies

If convicted, he faces the possibility of life in prison.

Gina Lopez was charged with:

Residential burglary

Drug possession

The case remains active as of this writing.

XII. When Welfare Checks Reveal the Unthinkable

This case has since become a sobering example cited by law enforcement across Nevada.

Welfare checks are meant to save lives.

Sometimes, they uncover what remains after a life has already been taken.

Mon’nique Gilbertson was a woman who trusted the wrong people. Who tried to help. Who tried to reclaim her safety too late.

And for the officers who opened that freezer, the call will not be forgotten.

One officer summed it up simply:

“I’m never going on a call like that again.”