A woman claiming to have a substance abuse problem is accused of stealing a casket with a body inside from a funeral home in Las Vegas, Nevada, and dumping the body outside the establishment.
According to an arrest report, the suspect, identified as 47-year-old Patricia Sierra, broke into the facility on W. Charleston Blvd. on August 27, the Las Vegas Review-Journal noted on Wednesday.
Sierra is accused of removing the body of Maria Ramirez, who passed away on August 13.
An image shows what appears to be the suspect, wearing a dark colored shirt and pants, wheeling the casket through a hallway inside the funeral home:
According to law enforcement officers, Sierra claimed she blacked out after drinking six beers and could not recall why she took the casket.
A neighbor said he was driving by the business when he saw the casket in the street. When he got closer to the building, he saw Ramirez’s body face down on the landscaping.
The Review-Journal report said, “Surveillance video showed a woman wearing black leggings and a black tank top, police said. She broke a window, police alleged, then reached through it to open a door.”
When officers later located Sierra, she told them she has a substance abuse problem, blacks out, and has an anger problem that causes her to be destructive.
There was a viewing for the deceased woman at the funeral home in the hours before the alleged break-in, according to 8 News Now.
Although the suspect claimed she did not remember the incident, she told officers she was the person caught on video and expressed her apologies.
She is facing charges of burglary of a business, grand larceny, and removing, transferring, or disturbing human remains, the Review-Journal report said, noting her bail in the case was initially set at $11,000.
In February 2021, police in St. Louis County, Missouri, were looking for a funeral home’s vehicle they said was stolen from a convenience store with a body inside of it, Breitbart News reported.
