A Texas woman was taken into custody this week after she allegedly stole a mortuary van with a deceased person from outside a hospital.
Valerie Traglor-Ellis, 36, was charged with automobile theft and abuse of a corpse in connection to the Tuesday evening incident.
Police received reports of a van stolen from a John Smith Hospital parking lot at around 7 p.m.
The driver of the mortuary transport van left the vehicle that had a deceased person inside and went to pick up another body from the hospital. When he returned, he did not find the van.
“While the driver was inside the hospital, the suspect, an adult female, entered the van without permission of the driver and fled the parking lot,” Forth Police said.
The stolen van was located shortly later near the Fort Worth Zoo. Surveillance footage caught the moment Traglor-Ellis abandoned the van and ran away.
“The suspect was located a short time later and taken into custody without incident and transported to the Fort Worth City Jail.”
“The vehicle and the deceased person being transported were released to the driver of the mortuary service.”
