Texas woman's body stolen from casket at funeral home

SAN ANTONIO -- A woman's body was stolen from inside a San Antonio funeral home after her memorial service, reports CBS affiliate KENS.

Investigators say Julie Mott, 26, was taken from her casket at Mission Parks Funeral Chapel North on Aug. 15. San Antonio Police Sgt. Javier Salazar said Mott's service ended around 1:30 p.m., and her remains were taken into a private visitation area in the back of the funeral home. Police believe her body was stolen during the next three hours, before the funeral home closed for the day.

"Our intelligence unit has been investigating it literally around the clock," Salazar said. "And so we're hoping that the public that hears about this case may be able to shed some light on it."

Police said they don't believe her body was removed overnight, because an alarm at the facility had not been triggered and there didn't appear to be any forced entry.

"The next morning when they came back to the funeral home, they discovered that the casket Ms. Mott had been in for the service was actually empty," said Sgt. Salazar. "Her remains had been removed."

Mott died on August 8 from cystic fibrosis. Her father Tim Mott told KENS that the disappearance of the young woman's body has made it even harder for her family to deal with her death.

"We just want our daughter's remains returned so we can have some closure to our grief," said Tim Mott, Julie Mott's father.

The Mission Parks Funeral Home is reportedly offering $20,000 to help catch the person responsible.