Man Accused Of Stealing Van, Corpse In IL Arrested In Green Bay: Cops

GREEN BAY, WI — A 23-year-old Illinois man who was being sought on out-of-state warrants, including for stealing a funeral home van containing a dead body, was arrested on Sunday in Green Bay after being pulled over by police..

Deon Howard, Rockford, Ill., was arrested by police in Green Bay on Sunday and faces criminal charges of possession of a stolen firearm by a felon resisting or obstructing a police officer, Brown County Sheriff's officials said.

Howard was a passenger in a vehicle that was pulled over after it was following a patrol vehicle with its high-beam lights on. A Brown County deputy stopped the vehicle, detected the odor of marijuana and proceeded to attempt to identify the occupants and search the vehicle, Brown County Sheriff's Capt. John Rousseau told Patch.

Police said Howard was not cooperative with identifying himself and became argumentative with officers and was arrested for obstructing an officer. Upon search of the vehicle, officers located a gun stolen out of Outagamie County., Rousseau said.

Howard was taken to the Brown County Jail , where he was identified as being wanted after being fingerprinted, police said. He was booked into the jail for possession of a firearm contrary to injunction, receiving a stolen firearm, obstructing, and carrying a concealed weapon.

The Winnebago County (Ill.) prosecutor had previously charged Howard with possession of a stolen vehicle and abuse of a corpse, police said.

Brown County police officials told Patch on Monday that Rousseau said that Howard remains in custody and Brown County and faces a couple of extraditable warrants, including from Rockford. Howard will remain in custody while that process is worked out, Rousseau told Patch.

Howard was charged in Illinois in late January after police said he stole a van from the Collins & Stone Funeral Home in Rockford. Police said at the time that the van was running and that the keys were in the vehicle when it was stolen.

Police announced that the van contained the body of Rockford resident Curtis Brown, who died of natural causes the week before the van was stolen, according to the county coroner’s office.

Police found the van a day after it was stolen in Chicago, but said Brown’s body was not inside. A day later, the Winnebago County Coroner’s Office said that Brown’s body was found outside a residence in the 8200 block of South Manistee Avenue in Chicago.

Brown’s body was returned to the coroner’s office and a fundraising effort was started to help Brown’s family, all of whom live out-of-state, police said.