Arizona police arrest 70-year-old traveling with wife’s dead body
May 14, 2019, 6:28 AM | Updated: 6:51 pm
Rodney Puckett (Pinal County Sheriff's Office photo)
(Pinal County Sheriff's Office photo)
PHOENIX – A 70-year-old man driving through Arizona has been arrested after police found a dead woman in the passenger seat of his car.
Eloy Police posted on Facebook Monday night that Rodney Puckett of Sand Springs, Oklahoma, had been pulled over on Interstate 10 near Toltec Road.
According to a Tuesday press release from the department, Puckett was stopped after a fast food restaurant employee told an officer that a vehicle with two nude people had used the drive-thru.
The release said the deceased woman, identified later as Linda Puckett, was nude and the driver was dressed only in underwear.
Rodney Puckett was charged with abandonment and concealment of the body of his wife.
Sgt. Krisie Barnette told KTAR News 92.3 FM that Puckett told officers that he and his wife were on a road trip to California when she died at a hotel in Texas.
He put her in the car, strapped her in and continued their trip.
ABC15 reported that Linda Puckett, 74, had filed for divorce in February.
Eloy police said they were working with Texas law enforcement to determine whether her death was a homicide.
Police said Tuesday that earlier footage showed the couple walking into the room Sunday.
They say Rodney Puckett is seen the next day using a luggage cart to move Linda Puckett’s body.
Media reports from Tulsa, Oklahoma, said a Silver Alert recently had been issued for Rodney Puckett, but he wasn’t missing — he had been arrested in Kansas for eluding police.
The Pinal County Medical Examiner’s Office will perform the autopsy.
No other details were immediately available.
Eloy is about 65 miles southeast of Phoenix and about 50 miles northwest of Tucson.
KTAR News 92.3 FM’s Martha Maurer and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
