Oklahoma man drove through three states with dead wife in passenger seat, arrested in Arizona during traffic stop
A 70-year-old man from Oklahoma who allegedly drove across three states with his dead wife's corpse sitting in the passenger seat has now been arrested on related charges.
Reports said Rodney Puckett was pulled over on Interstate 10 in Eloy, Arizona on Monday by a traffic officer, who while talking to him noticed a dead woman sitting next to him, Daily Mail reports.
Authorities later revealed the identity of the deceased as 74-year-old Linda Puckett, Rodney's wife.
According to Rodney, the couple was on a road trip when Linda died at a hotel in Texas. In response, he moved her body into the vehicle and continued toward their destination, which is yet to be revealed, like nothing happened.
Now, the Eloy Police Department has joined hands with Texas authorities in a probe to determine if Linda was the victim of a homicide. Officials have handed over her body to the Pinal County Medical Examiner, where her cause of death will be determined.
As of now, Rodney has been remanded in custody at the Pinal County Jail on a charge of abandonment or concealment of a body.
According to police, Rodney, who hails from Sand Springs, Oklahoma, may face additional charges that could be filed after the investigation is concluded.
Rodney and Linda were currently in the middle of a divorce after tying the knot in 2011.
Earlier this year, Linda filed for divorce and sought a protective order against her husband. According to court records, the order was granted on February 6 and continued on Monday. Rodney was reported missing in April when a Silver Alert was issued to locate his whereabouts. At the time, he told authorities he had bipolar disorder.
However, it later came to light that Rodney hadn't been heard from because he was being held at a Kansas jail for eluding police, who were then forced to cancel the alert.