A man has been arrested after going through a drive-thru with the naked corpse of his wife upside down in his car’s passenger seat.

Maria Davis, an employee at a Carl’s Jr. in Arizona, alerted police after spotting the corpse in the car driven by Rodney Puckett, 70, in the early hours of May 13.

“I kept telling my coworker, I can’t believe what I’m seeing before my eyes," Ms David told Arizona’s WCSC of the incident.

She says Mr Puckett was honking his horn and appeared to be naked.

“What most caught my attention was her. I knew she was face down with her legs up in the air,” she continued. “It wasn’t normal. There was like a blue cover he had in the front, and he was like trying to cover her, like her behind, but her legs were still sticking up in the air.”

Ms Davis attempted to get the license plate number of the car. A detective with the local police department happened to enter the Carl’s Jr. at the same time, and Mr Puckett was stopped as he attempted to leave the parking lot.

The deceased was identified by police as Linda Puckett, Mr Puckett’s 74-year-old estranged wife.

Sgt Kristie Barnette, public information officer for the Eloy Police Department, who arrested Mr Puckett, told the news station that the police are currently “at the beginning of the investigation.” They have so far learned that the husband and estranged wife stayed at a hotel in El Paso, Texas the evening before Linda’s body was spotted.

“The security video shows Linda and Rodney walking into the hotel room,” Sgt Barnette says. “Then, in the early hours of May 13, it shows Rodney exiting the room with a luggage cart and what appears to be Linda’s body, hidden by blankets.”