CLAYTON, Mo. (AP) — Two people have been charged with stealing a funeral home van that had a body inside from a gas station in the St. Louis area.
Brian Schaake, 38, was charged Saturday with a felony charge of stealing a motor vehicle. Thirty-one-year-old Christina Kalb was charged with a misdemeanor charge of tampering with a motor vehicle.
Kalb was released from custody, officials said. Schaake was being held Saturday on $40,000 cash bond.
In a probable cause statement, St. Louis County Police detective Scott Russell said Schaake likely wouldn’t show up in court because his last address was out of state and he was believed to be homeless. Officials listed the same Springfield, Illinois, address for both him and Kalb.
The funeral home van was stolen Thursday from a QuikTrip gas station in the Spanish Lake area of unincorporated St. Louis County after it was left unattended with the engine running.
The body was recovered after the van was spotted about 45 miles (72.42 kilometers) away the next day at a Walmart in Festus. Schaake and Kalb were arrested inside the store.
According to court records, Schaake admitted to stealing the van with Kalb.
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ST. LOUIS (AP) — A funeral home van stolen from a St. Louis-area convenience store has now been recovered, and so has the body of a deceased woman that was inside the van.
St. Louis County police said two suspects were arrested about 10 a.m. Friday in Festus, Missouri, a day after the van was stolen in the Spanish Lake area of north St. Louis County, about 55 miles away. No other details were released.
Police say the driver of the funeral home van left it running Thursday at a Quik Trip store in north St. Louis County, and went inside. The van was gone when he came back out.