CCTV Shows 70-Year-Old Man Moving Wife's Dead Body From Hotel

A man from Oklahoma, who arrested on suspicion of concealing his wife's dead body in Arizona on Monday, was seen in a CCTV footage moving the woman’s body outside a hotel in El Paso, Texas.

Rodney Puckett, 70, was arrested Monday after an officer stopped the man along Interstate 10 after a drive-thru worker at a restaurant in Eloy, Arizona, alerted the authorities of seeing a naked woman inside the car.

"I so happened to look on the passenger side and that's when I seen he had the lady in there, she was like completely naked. The way she was face down, like laying down, and then I seen the color of her feet were like purple,” said drive-thru employee Maria Davis, ABC 15 reported.

The officer found the body of a naked woman in the passenger seat of the car. The head of the body was reportedly on the floorboard while the feet were near the headrest. When questioned, Rodney told the officer that his wife, 74-year-old Linda Puckett, died during their trip at a hotel in Texas. After her death, he moved the body out of the hotel and put it in the car before continuing their trip to California. He was arrested and booked into Pinal County Jail for concealment of a body.

Sgt. Kristie Barnette, a police spokeswoman in Eloy, said though the exact cause of Linda’s death was not known, she did have signs of blunt-force trauma on her body.

During investigation, the officers checked the CCTV footage of the El Paso hotel where the couple stayed. The couple were seen walking into their room Sunday evening and Rodney moving the body out of the hotel using a luggage cart Monday morning. Barnette said it was not clear why Rodney moved the body.

"I have been in law enforcement and with the Eloy Police Department for 17 years and this is the most bizarre case I have ever seen in Eloy. He tried to wake her, couldn't wake her up, he loaded her onto a luggage cart and proceeded to place her in his vehicle,” Barnette said.

El Paso police spokesman Sgt. Enrique Carrillo said no reports of suspicious activity involving an elderly couple was received by the authorities.

Linda had filed for a divorce in February to end their nearly eight-year marriage. In April, a Silver Alert was issued for Rodney, who reportedly suffered from bipolar disorder, after he went missing. However, it was canceled after it was found that he was in a Kansas jail on a complaint of eluding.