A 70-year-old Oklahoma man was arrested Monday after he was stopped on an Arizona interstate and police discovered his dead wife strapped into the passenger seat, the Arizona Republic reported.
Rodney Puckett, of Sand Springs, was booked into the Pinal County Jail on a count of abandonment or concealment of a body, the newspaper reported.
According to a statement from the Eloy Police Department, Officer Adam Edmonds stopped Puckett on I-10 and said he noticed a dead woman propped up in the passenger seat. The woman was identified as Puckett's wife, 74-year-old Linda Puckett, KNXV reported.
In a statement, Eloy police said Rodney Puckett was on a road trip with his wife when she died at a hotel in Texas, the Republic reported.
"He moved her body into their vehicle, continuing towards their destination,'' Eloy police said in its statement.
Police did not specify the couple's destination, but Puckett was reportedly driving toward California, according to KOKI.
Authorities in Arizona are working with Texas police to determine if Linda Puckett's death was a homicide, KFOR reported.
The couple married in 2011, but Linda Puckett filed for a divorce Feb. 8, KNXV reported. She was issued a protective order from her husband on Feb. 6 and the order was still in effect Monday, the television station reported.
In April, the Sand Springs Police Department issued a Silver Alert for Rodney Puckett, who was missing and did not have his medication, KFOR reported. The Silver Alert was canceled after Puckett was found in a Kansas jail, the television station reported.
Linda Puckett's body was turned over to the Pinal County Medical Examiner to determine cause of death, KNXV reported.
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