Man Steals Hearse With Body Outside Church; Family Gives Chase, Recovers Body and Holds Funeral
The funeral service for a Los Angeles teenager was almost thwarted Saturday morning after a man snatched a hearse bearing his casket in front of a church where his family was gathering to say goodbye.
Relatives of the deceased, 19-year-old Jonté Lee Reed, were told about the theft on their way to celebrate his life at Ebenezer Baptist Church and were able to track down the alleged thief and recover the hearse with the body untouched, according to the Los Angeles Times.
"I got a phone call, I was still at home, saying that someone run off with the hearse with my nephew's body in it. So as I got here, everybody's outside. There is no hearse, there is no body," Johnnie Fortune, Reed's aunt, told KTLA5.
"So a lot of the people went chasing after the car, looking for a different color, which it was black. They brought the hearse back on a truck," she explained.
According to the Los Angeles Times, the incident happened at about 11 a.m. as the church's funeral director prepared for the service.
Shirley Little, wife of pastor Kenneth Little, explained that the funeral director left the hearse idling while he arranged flowers inside the church. When he went back to get the casket containing Reed's body, the hearse was gone.
The shocked director reportedly reached out to some ministry friends to help locate the hearse. It was the family, who were also notified of the theft of their loved one, that came to the rescue.
The Times noted that family driving to the funeral saw a hearse passing them about four blocks from the church and forced the driver to pull over. Heated words were exchanged and the police were called in.
Police say the man is being evaluated for a mental condition but noted that he's also been charged with auto theft, according to KTLA5.
Little noted that, despite the theft of the body, the funeral ended on a positive note.
"Even with all of that occurring, the service for this gentleman was only 30 minutes late and it was nice," Little emphasized.
