Homeless man carried a human head in a bucket for six months, police say

A homeless man living west of Phoenix was charged earlier this month after investigators found him to be in possession of a human head stored in a bucket.

The man, 52-year-old Matthew David Hall, has been charged with first-degree burglary and abandonment or concealment of body parts, according to The Arizona Republic. The cause of the death is listed as a suicide.

The head belonged to Daniel Lucas, 73, of Baltic, S.D.

Deputies with the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office located the head after a friend went looking for Lucas. Lucas often camped in his truck.

Hall told investigators that he entered Lucas’ truck, where he found Lucas dead of a gunshot wound that a medical examiner said was self-inflicted.

Hall moved the body outside, into the summertime heat, and removed the man’s head and placed it into a container “in order for it to be preserved,” he told investigators according to The Republic.

Deputies detected an “odor associated with decomposition” when they entered the truck about six months later.

Hall had initially provided conflicting accounts about how he came to possess the head, People Magazine reported. At first he told investigators he found Lucas’ body in the desert.

Lucas had been missing since early 2017.

A friend looking for Lucas alerted authorities to his truck at a campsite near Aguila, Ariz.

The complaint against Hall said he saw the remains with “sustained evidence of animal activity” and acknowledged putting the head in a bucket.

Hall also allegedly collected a handgun and rifle from Lucas’ truck.

Court records did not list an attorney for Hall.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.

This story was originally published January 24, 2018 at 3:46 PM with the headline "Homeless man carried a human head in a bucket for six months, police say."