Stolen Hearse With Body Inside It Crashes On Freeway

A stolen hearse containing a body crashed on a busy highway in Los Angeles, USA, after a high-speed police chase earlier today, February 27.

Officers from a Los Angeles sheriff’s office confirmed that vehicle – a Lincoln Navigator – was the same that had been stolen from outside a Greek Orthodox church in Pasadena yesterday, February 26.

The pursuit is said to have begun at around 7.35am local time when someone called police reporting that they’d seen the stolen vehicle. The crash took place just 15 minutes later on the 110 Freeway at Vernon Avenue, local police told CBS Los Angeles.

Harrowing clips and images showed the smashed up vehicle blocking the road following the hot pursuit.

CBS2

When police approached the vehicle following the crash, they found that it contained a casket holding a woman’s body at the time it was stolen on Wednesday evening.

At the time, all southbound lanes were shut, however they have since reopened.

Police had begun searching for the stolen vehicle after it was reported to be taken from St Anthony’s Church on Rosemead Boulevard just after 8pm on Wednesday evening.

Sheriffs later took to Twitter to confirm the ‘black navigator is the stolen vehicle involved in the grand theft auto from last night,’ adding that there is ‘one suspect in custody’ and ‘one casket with one deceased has been located inside the vehicle’.

St Anthony Greek Orthodox Church was holding a prayer service called a Trisagion Wednesday evening, often held the night before a funeral in the Greek Orthodox tradition and the main funeral was expected to take place this morning.

However, officials say the woman’s body stolen was not associated with this particular service and instead was in a mortuary vehicle that just happened to be stopping by the church at the time. The mortuary attendant was said to be bringing a body inside the church, while another was in the vehicle that was left parked outside.

Police have confirmed a suspect is in custody.

If you have experienced a bereavement and would like to speak with someone in confidence contact Cruse Bereavement Care via their national helpline on 0808 808 1677.

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Emma Rosemurgey

Emma Rosemurgey is an NCTJ trained Journalist who started her career by producing The Royal Rosemurgey newspaper in 2004, which kept her family up to date with the goings on of her sleepy north east village. She graduated from the University of Central Lancashire in Preston and started her career in regional newspapers before joining Tyla (formerly Pretty 52) in 2017, and progressing onto UNILAD in 2019.