Rockford police identify suspect in theft of funeral home van with corpse inside
ROCKFORD, Ill. (CBS) -- Police have identified the man they believe stole a funeral home van with a corpse inside in Rockford and made his way all the way to the South Side of Chicago.
Deon Howard, 23, of Rockford, is now charged with unlawful corpse of a stolen vehicle and abuse of a corpse. But Howard has not been apprehended.
The Winnebago County Coroner's Office said 47-year-old Curtis Brown died of natural causes on Thursday at a local hospital. His body was released to Collins & Stone Funeral Home the next day, and on Saturday, a van with Brown's body in its cargo area was stolen from outside the funeral home.
The van was found Sunday in the 1400 block of East 87th Street, near Dorchester Avenue, in Chicago's Calumet Heights neighborhood – 97 miles away from the Rockford funeral home from which it was stolen. But Brown's body was not inside, and was not found until a day later – more than two miles away.
An anonymous 911 call brought Chicago Police to an alley near 83rd Street and Manistee Avenue on Monday afternoon, after someone thought they spotted a body in the road. When officers arrived, they confirmed what the caller saw.
CBS 2 has learned that, when the body was found, it was not covered in a bag – it was just dumped. It has all left a family heartbroken and investigators stumped.
The Winnebago County Coroner's Office has since turned over Brown's body to a funeral home, and his family was notified of the incident.
Anyone with information about the whereabouts of Howard is asked to contact Rockford police at (815) 966-2900, or to contact the department on Facebook or Twitter.
To submit an anonymous tip, the public can text the word RPDTIP and their tip to 847411, or get the Rockford PD app in the App Store or Google Play store. Rockford Area Crime Stoppers also accepts anonymous tips at (815) 963-7867.
