Man, woman arrested after dead body found in Phoenix home

PHOENIX - A homeowner renovating his rental property made a gruesome discovery -- body parts buried underneath a floor board in the house.

The homeowner had just evicted his daughter and her husband from the house near 16th Street and Indian School Road when he made the discovery.

36-year-old Metika Najar and 32-year-old Leviticus Najar are behind bars, facing charges in connection to hiding body parts.

The victim has not been identified yet. No one has been charged with the homicide, but the wife reportedly implicated her own husband.

For the last 12 years, police say the Najars had been living in the home, renting the property from Metika's father.

Last week, the father traveled to Phoenix to evict the couple from the home for not paying rent. As he was renovating the house, he noticed something suspicious in one of the bedrooms.

"He began to clean up the property.. he noticed the floor was uneven and upon closer inspection, he discovered what he believed to be remains," said Sgt. Vince Lewis of the Phoenix Police Department.

Detectives removed a large box from underneath the floor -- finding the head of a homicide victim.

"Human remains wrapped in layers upon layers of material.. they were inside a box inside of a toolbox that you would find in the bed of a pickup truck, wrapped again and then buried under a floorboard," explained Lewis.

Metika gave a detailed statement to investigators.

According to police records, she told them she "believed there was an evil entity in a room of her house."

She said they had let several people stay at the home over the past few months, one of them was a man named "Chris."

Metika told detectives "Levi hit Chris with a bat to get the bad spirits out" of the bedroom. She also reportedly admitted to using meth on a daily basis.

Police have not identified the victim, nor a homicide suspect. They believe the victim was killed a couple of weeks ago.