Gregory Price

De Soto ? Johnson County deputies last week discovered the body of a missing Ottawa man in a refrigerator abandoned in a field near De Soto, Master Deputy Tom Erickson said Monday.

Erickson said officers were led to the discovery Thursday after a tip. The body of Gregory Price, 33, was found in a field near 103rd Street and Kill Creek Road, south of Kansas Highway 10.

Sheriff’s officers are investigating it as a suspicious death, but they’re trying to determine the circumstances and cause of his death.

“We’re trying to follow up on everything we can get our hands on,” Erickson said. “But we’re still looking for anybody who knows anything about him or any of the circumstances around his death.”

Price was reported missing in early 2011 to police in Independence, Mo., and before that he was last seen near De Soto. Price was identified as a white man about 5 feet, 8 inches tall, 180 to 200 pounds.

Authorities said they conducted an autopsy and were able to identify Price based on a fingerprint. The body had been inside the refrigerator “for awhile,” Erickson said, but officers don’t have a time frame about whether he died before or after Price was reported missing more than a year ago.

Erickson said investigators are asking anyone with information to call the TIPS Hotline, 816-474-TIPS, or the Johnson County Sheriff’s Office at 913-715-5560.