Police: Video appears to show man wheeling wife's body out of hotel on luggage cart

Chris Coppola
Updated
The body of Linda Puckett, 74, showed signs of blunt force trauma, but the cause of death is pending, Eloy police say.

PHOENIX – An Oklahoma man who was stopped Monday off Interstate 10 in Arizona with his wife's dead body in the passenger seat was sitting in only his underwear, while the deceased woman's body was nude and placed with her head near the floorboards, the police said Tuesday.

Eloy Police said an initial exam of the woman by the Pinal County Medical Examiner's Office found signs of "minor blunt force'' trauma on her body, but a cause of death still had not been determined.

Surveillance video from an El Paso, Texas, hotel shows the man wheeling out what appears to be a body on a luggage cart Monday morning, Eloy police said.

Rodney Puckett, 70, was arrested after he was found with his wife's deceased body outside a Carl's Jr. restaurant just off Interstate 10 in Eloy, the department said, in providing updated details Tuesday about the incident.

More: Oklahoma man tells police his wife died, but he took her along for rest of road trip

His wife was identified as 74-year-old Linda Puckett. Her body was placed with her head near the floor of the car and legs toward the headrest, police said.

Puckett told police that his wife died at a hotel in El Paso, but he decided to place her body in the vehicle and continue on with their planned trip, Eloy police said on Monday.

Police determined the couple stayed at a hotel in El Paso, where security video showed the couple walking into a room on Sunday evening.

Early the next morning, the video shows Rodney Puckett pushing a luggage cart out of the room, and "it appears as though a woman's body is hidden under a blanket on the cart,'' Eloy police said in a statement released Tuesday.

Puckett told investigators he found his wife unresponsive in the hotel room and could not revive her. He then loaded the body onto the cart and into his vehicle, according to police.

"It is not clear what his intentions were at this point,'' the police statement said.

Eloy police are working with El Paso authorities on the continuing investigation.

Puckett is being held on a charge of abandonment or concealment of a dead body but could face additional charges, police said.

Police did not provide further details on where Puckett was heading.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Police: Video appears to show man wheeling wife's body out of hotel on luggage cart