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Man arrested in Wisconsin in connection to stolen funeral van containing body in Illinois

GREEN BAY, Wis. — A man who allegedly stole an Illinois funeral home van that was transporting a body in January was arrested last weekend in Wisconsin after a traffic stop.

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Deon Howard, 23, was arrested Sunday morning after a traffic stop, according to WLS-TV. Howard has been charged with unlawful possession of a stolen vehicle and abuse of a corpse.

On Jan. 21, a van from the Collins & Stone Funeral Home in Rockport, Illinois, was stolen with a body inside, according to The Associated Press.

The van was found the next day in Chicago without the body, according to WMAQ. The body of Curtis Brown 47, who had died earlier in January at a hospital, was found behind a vacant house WLS-TV reported. The coroner’s office said Brown died of natural causes.

Brown’s body was turned over to the Collins & Stone funeral home but that van was later reported stolen with the body inside, according to the news outlet. The body was in a black bag, not a coffin.

Once Brown’s body was located, it was returned to Rockford by a coroner’s office, WMAQ reported.