Sand Springs Man Drives With Wife's Body In Car, Police Say

A Sand Springs man is in custody in Arizona after police there say they stopped him and found he was driving with his dead wife in the passenger seat.

Monday, May 13th 2019, 11:06 pm

By: News On 6

A Sand Springs man was arrested in Arizona after an officer noticed he was driving with a dead woman in the passenger seat.

Police in Eloy, Arizona, stopped 70-year-old Rodney Puckett on I-10. His 74-year-old wife, Linda, was naked and upside down in the passenger seat of her husband's car, and according to Police, Mr. Puckett said she had died in Texas, and he continued driving.

The medical examiner says she suffered blunt force trauma but an exact cause of death has not been determined.

Surveillance video shows Linda and her husband check into a hotel in El Paso on Sunday. Police believe Rodney left Monday with Linda'a body in a luggage cart.

Police in Sand Springs say the couple had marital issues since at least January, and they had responded to several domestic violence calls, where the wife was the aggressor.

“There were some mental health issues that both of them were dealing with,” said Captain Todd Enzbrenner, of Sand Springs Police, “and that might have contributed to their domestic problems.”

Mr. Puckett was the subject of a Silver Alert in April, but the alert was canceled after he turned up in jail in Bourbon County, Kansas. The Sheriff there said Puckett was picked up for speeding, attempting to elude officers and suspected DUI.

Puckett’s wife bailed him out of jail, and Sand Springs Police say the couple returned together to Oklahoma, despite both having protective orders against the other. The couple was getting divorced.

Detectives in Sand Springs determined the couple returned home May 3rd; then left again with suitcases May 8th.

For now, Puckett is in jail for not reporting the death.

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