A man died from natural causes on January 19 and his family hired the Collins & Stone Funeral Home in Rockford, Illinois, which took his body in a van from the hospital.
The van, with 47-year-old Curtis Brown’s body in it, was stolen.
On Sunday evening, January 22, the van was found in Chicago. Brown’s body was not inside the vehicle.
Brown’s body was retrieved through the help of a 911 anonymous call. He was found on Monday afternoon in an area near several empty homes around two and a half miles away from where the van was found. His body had been removed from the body bag.
The Rockford police were able to get security footage, revealing a possible male suspect. The man is wanted for both stealing the vehicle and unauthorized movement of the corpse.
Pastor Everette Harris from the outreach center near the funeral home said that he was surprised that this happened. According to him, he has lived in the area for 55 years and it was the first time that he heard of such an incident.
According to Brown’s family, they weren’t informed about the theft until Monday night. Ed, his brother, said that he felt like Brown was “neglected in some type of way,” and that the funeral home was at fault. Rockford police revealed that the business had left the van unattended with the engine running.
Sharon Pearson, Brown’s aunt, is angry about what happened. She is planning to file a lawsuit.
