HauntBound archive · catalog record
Reported phenomena — as catalogued
On June 23, 1965, Houston police found Fred and Edwina Rogers dismembered in their Montrose refrigerator; their son Charles vanished and was never found. The house was demolished in 1972.
1815 Driscoll Street, Houston, TX 77019
Research updated June 2026
Age
All Ages
Cost
Free
Public street in the Montrose neighborhood. The original house was demolished in 1972; condominiums occupy the lot.
Access
Wheelchair OK
Flat urban sidewalk in the Montrose neighborhood
Equipment
Photos OK
1965 Houston Unsolved Double Murder · Case Remains Officially Open · Demolished 1972 — No Original Structure Remains
Fred Christopher Rogers (born January 19, 1884) and Edwina Ivor Rogers (born October 8, 1892) lived at 1815 Driscoll Street in Houston's Montrose neighborhood with their son Charles, who was 43 at the time of the crime. Charles Rogers had an unusual background: a former Navy pilot who had flown combat missions, a licensed private pilot, and a working seismologist employed by Shell Oil. He was described by neighbors as deeply reclusive; he communicated with his parents primarily through written notes and was rarely seen outdoors.
On June 20, 1965, Fred and Edwina Rogers were killed. Fred was beaten with a claw hammer. Police determined the dismemberment of both bodies occurred in the upstairs bathroom, carried out by someone with knowledge of human anatomy. The remains were distributed among the family's two refrigerators, where they were discovered three days later when a welfare-check officer, responding to a neighbor's concern, opened the refrigerator and initially believed he had found butchered meat before recognizing the remains.
Charles Rogers was last seen on June 23, 1965 — the same day the bodies were discovered. He has never been found. Despite a decades-long investigation, he was declared legally dead in absentia in 1975. He remains the only identified suspect in the case, which has never been officially closed.
The house at 1815 Driscoll Street remained vacant after the 1965 murders and was demolished in 1972. A condominium development was built on the lot in 2000. Houston Historical Tours includes the Driscoll Street address on its crime-history and haunted Houston walking tour routes.
Sources
The Icebox Murders site on Driscoll Street appears on Houston Historical Tours' haunted walking routes, where it is presented as one of the city's most unsettling unresolved true crime locations. The tour's inclusion reflects the case's hold on Houston collective memory rather than a documented body of post-demolition paranormal reports: no structure from 1965 survives, and the lot has been occupied by a condominium complex since 2000.
Accounts collected by tour operators describe an uneasy atmosphere at the address — a sense of something wrong that visitors and tour guides have reported even without being told the history. This is a common response at sites of extreme violence, and it should be understood as subjective experience rather than verified paranormal phenomenon. The case's unresolved nature — a suspect who vanished completely the day the bodies were found and has never been located in more than 60 years — contributes to its dark reputation in Houston true crime communities.
Thomas Thompson, who wrote *Blood and Money* about the River Oaks Hill murder cases, also reported on the Rogers case for Houstonia's predecessor publications. Charles Rogers's background — piloting skills, anatomical knowledge, and sudden total disappearance — has made the case a fixture of American true crime writing, with several books and podcast series devoted to it.
Notable Entities
Houston Historical Tours includes 1815 Driscoll Street on its haunted crime-history tours. The original 1920s house where Fred and Edwina Rogers were found in June 1965 was demolished in 1972; a condominium development replaced it in 2000. No structure associated with the crime remains at the address.
Every HauntBound history is researched from documented sources. We clearly separate verified historical fact from paranormal folklore.
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