Tips sought after attempted theft of occupied casket from Ovid funeral home

OVID - Police said they don't know why a teenage suspect tried to steal an occupied casket from an Ovid funeral home earlier this month.

And they are hoping the public can help them get an answer to that question.

"We don't know what his intentions were," Clinton County Sheriff Larry Jerue said Tuesday, "Was this a Halloween prank? Was it somebody who has serious issues? It's not something that occurs every day."

The incident happened just before 10 a.m. Nov. 5 at the former Osgood Funeral Home location on Oak Street, sheriff's officials said Monday on the department's Facebook page.

A caller reported seeing a teenage male pushing a casket out of the building.

Jerue said the boy slipped in through a door that had been left unlocked to allow for a flower delivery and pushed a casket on a wheeled carriage out of the building, across the parking lot and out to a road before running from the area, sans casket.

The neighbor who called police thought the boy might have been spooked by a car coming down the street, the sheriff said.

"We'd been tracking some local leads that turned up dry, so wanted to take it to the public to see if they have any knowledge about it," Jerue said.

Jerue said the casket contained a body but declined to disclose any other details.

The suspect was described as a white male about 5-feet-six and 13 to 15 years old. He was wearing black pants and a brown camouflage coat and ran north on East Street.

The funeral home is now owned by Smith Family Funeral Homes. Officials at the funeral home could not immediately be reached for comment.

Anyone with information is asked to call Lt. Sean Dush at (989) 227-6507.

Contact Ken Palmer at (517) 377-1032 or kpalmer@lsj.com. Follow him on Twitter @KBPalm_lsj.