AZ - Rodney Puckett, 70, tells police wife died, but he took her along for rest of road trip

Whiskey
Tango
Foxtrot

Shades of 'Florida Man' here....

 

Man, 70, who was arrested with the body of his dead wife in his car was caught after a stunned worker at a Carl's Jr drive-thru in Arizona spotted him wearing only his underpants with the naked corpse upside down in the passenger seat (Daily Mail)

 

Man found with wife's body had 'volatile,' abusive marriage, says woman's son

 

wow
I don't even know what else to say

 

Clearly, I was wrong on the attempt to conceal. This man is scary. I feel so awful for her children and family to have to think about your mom being abused like that in death.

 

BUT what caused her death.
We will soon know.
MOO.

 

They couldn't charge him with a seatbelt violation.

 

Goodness gracious! I know this isn’t funny, but you know how sometimes people laugh at the most inappropriate times? I have laughed so hard that my dog is barking his head off wondering what’s wrong with me. I don’t think I’ve read anything this... odd... in a very long time. I can’t imagine being that drive thru worker!!!

 

Whiskey
Tango
Foxtrot
to put it mildly...

 

I was so appalled by learning that this poor lady was upside down in the car seat that their state of dress or undress went right over my head. I didn't know about that until I came back to see what's going on, and when I realized that this poor woman was nude, I also laughed til I cried. The sort of deliberately blurry mind-picture you get of that would make most anyone laugh. Not for long, though. After all, he is mental, and maybe the utter disrespect wasn't intended as such. I hope he is locked up somewhere, anywhere, for the rest of his life ~ don't ever want to hear of him again, and sure don't want him to be able to pull any stunt like that. ever, ever again.

I'm with you, nightowl. I understand. And feel so sorry for her family.

 

We always used to say, "if you don't laugh you would be crying!", in our line of work.

 

They did say on the radio the other day that there was "minor blunt force trauma" but that they would not further elaborate until after the autopsy.

 

Not his first or second go around with LE... Finally, found some msm confirming what I heard on the radio about blunt force trauma.

Man arrested after road-tripping with dead wife in car has lengthy history of arrests

Rodney Puckett's road trips often were fueled by drugs, alcohol, and at least one loaded firearm. And his arrests almost always involved a vehicle.

He had convictions in three states going back at least 15 years when he was stopped Monday outside of Carl's Jr. in Eloy with his wife's nude body upside down in the passenger seat of a car. ...

I don’t believe she knew," Chris Fields of Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, told The Arizona Republic. He said his mother never mentioned Rodney Puckett's arrests, which included a string of offenses in Oklahoma, Florida and Kansas.

Court records paint a picture of erratic behavior and petty offenses that snowballed into multiple charges for the same incident. The records offer scant insight into his persona, but they are underscored by reports last year that Puckett suffered from severe mental illness.

The courts, despite multiple felony charges, appeared to treat Puckett sympathetically, deferring sentencing, and ultimately putting him on probation. He never did prison time.

Records show Puckett pleaded no contest to eluding a Glenpool, Oklahoma, police officer in 2004. He also pleaded no contest to resisting arrest. The court responded to the pleas with a deferred sentence, meaning the case was dismissed after he served probation.

In 2005, Tulsa police pulled over Puckett on suspicion of driving while intoxicated, records show. He also faced charges of transporting a loaded firearm, possession of marijuana and drug paraphernalia, transportation of an open container of alcohol, and driving without insurance.

Records show he pleaded guilty to the charges, paid a fine and the case was closed in 2006.

From 2006 to 2011, Puckett's record appeared to be clean. That ended when he was arrested by police in St. Petersburg, Florida, for making a false report to an officer. He also was charged with possession of marijuana and possession of hydrocodone, an opioid used to treat pain and sometimes prescribed as a cough suppressant.

Puckett pleaded guilty and was sentenced to nine months' probation that he served in Oklahoma.

About the same time, Rodney met Linda Fields, and his criminal record appeared to go dormant.

“It seems like they met at an elderly singles group," Fields said.

They got married. But their marriage was anything but stable, Fields said

Fields described the couple's relationship as volatile and said it was peppered with physical abuse on both sides. He said his mother had left the couple's home in Sand Springs, Oklahoma, and had moved to Tulsa.

The El Paso Times cited court records stating the couple was undergoing a divorce to end their nearly eight-year marriage. They had filed restraining orders against each other earlier this year.

It's unclear if that's what prompted Rodney to get into a car and drive once more. In April, he took off, prompting the Sandy police to issue a Silver Alert for the missing senior citizen.

In the alert, police described Puckett as bipolar and said he left without his medication. Officials also said he was unable to be mobile for long because of extreme back pain, according to an Oklahoma News 4 report.

Puckett wasn't missing. He was in jail. On April 19, Puckett was arrested in Bourbon County, Kansas, on suspicion of reckless driving and trying to evade officers. Records show he was released on $2,500 bond. His court date was scheduled May 3.

Records don't show if Puckett appeared for court. On May 13, police say he was on the road to Eloy, his dead wife by his side.

An initial exam of Linda's body by the Pinal County Medical Examiner's Office found signs of "minor blunt force'' trauma on her body, but a cause of death has not been determined, police said.

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

Fields told The Republic his mother deserved better.

"She was a good mother, a grandmother and a great-grandmother," he said. "She didn't deserve to be thrown into the floorboard of his car. Whatever his reason was, it wasn't good enough."

 

Well yeah!

Ms. Puckett, so sorry that you became newsworthy!

Best, Laughing

 

Another case where a restraining order means squat.

 

'Special person': Woman found in husband's car 'wasn't just a body,' sons say
'Special person': Woman found in husband's car 'wasn't just a body,' sons say

Linda was a pastor's wife for more than 40 years; he died of heart disease in 2008.

 

Thank you SO much for finding and posting this. What a lovely woman she must have been!

 

AND then she ended up with this person.
As previously stated, about to be divorced, so she was not in a happy relationship now.
Now deceased, and been driven by her partner, while she is naked, upside down in the passenger seat.
MOO.

 

May this story also be a warning to older widows (I am one) to not be in any hurry to enter into a new relationship without really getting to know the person over a period of time. And to check out their background carefully.

Even 8 -10 years ago it was possible to have a background check done on a person. That would have turned up his long history of arrests.

One of my friends who was widowed started to see a man who was also widowed. She then learned that his late wife had drowned in the bathtub at their home. They had only been married for about a year. When she nosed around a bit she learned that there was an awful lot of talk among their friends that there were suspicions it was not a natural death. She ended the relationship at that point.

 

Yes my MIL met a man online and met him in person without having me check him out first. When I did check him out I found he had a record. He did ultimately reveal that to her on his own, but it was still unnerving. In the future she's going to have me investigate them BEFORE meeting them.