Man gets life sentence for killing father with crossbow and hiding body in freezer

Police believe Carl Marxwell's body was left in freezer for eight months

Carl Goldberg confessed to second-degree murder (Hannibal Police Department)

A man who killed his father with a crossbow before hiding his body in a freezer, has been sentenced to life in prison.

Police in the city of Hannibal, Missouri, discovered 84-year-old Carl Maxwell's body in October 2015 in a vacant house near his home.

However, investigators believe his son Carl Goldberg, killed him that February.

The 32-year-old has now pled guilty to the second-degree murder of his father using a crossbow.

In a written confession made after his arrest Goldberg said he shot his father in the chest while he slept in a chair.

He returned 20 minutes later and shot another bolt into his head, he added.

The confession said the murder stemmed from an argument between the pair that had taken place earlier that day.

Marion County prosecuting attorney David Clayton used the crossbow as a piece of evidence at the sentencing, arguing that the unconventional weapon proves the murder was calculated and not done on impulse.

"By the time you retract it, load it, aim it, fire it and he did that on two separate occasions, approximately twenty minutes apart," Mr Clayton said.

Police said Mr Maxwell had twice previously reported his son for committing fraud against him, once in February 2011 and again in August 2014.

Mr Clayton, who pushed for a life sentence, said he was "very pleased with the court's decision".