A Las Vegas woman has been arrested after she was caught on surveillance tape breaking into a mortuary and stealing a casket with a body inside it.
The gruesome incident took place at the Affordable Cremation and Burial Service on August 27 at night. The footage shows a woman dressed in a spangled top breaking through the front window and turning the funeral home’s door lock to let herself inside. Once there, internal cameras show her maneuvering the $2,600 coffin out of the building with its unidentified occupant.
The deceased person’s viewing had been held the day before. A construction worker who was working near the funeral home on the day of the theft told police he saw a woman fitting Patricia Sierra’s description standing outside the funeral home holding flowers.
Someone called police at 3:30 am the next morning after the theft to report that a body was lying face down (the location was not disclosed in news reports). When the cops arrived they found the body—with its feet covered in plastic bags—near the empty coffin.
When they arrested Sierra, 47, she said she had no memory of body-snatching as she had blacked out from drinking a six-pack of beer. The woman said this is a common problem for her, as she has an addiction. During questioning, Sierra told the police she was sorry and that she wasn’t trying to behave badly, but that she often burglarized businesses in an inebriated state.
Whether Sierra remembers the incident, the cameras did. Police were able to help connect her to the crime when they noticed her red BMX bike on the videotape at the funeral home.
The woman is charged with grand larceny, burglary, and disturbing human remains. She is in jail on an $11,000 bond, and is set for her first court hearing on September 18.
