Son is arrested for exhuming his mother’s body from her grave and driving her coffin home
A man has been arrested for taking his mother’s body from her grave in a Spanish cemetery and driving her coffin home in his car.
Today, after spending a night in a police cell, he told an investigating judge that he just wanted to check whether she was really gone, because her death had occurred so suddenly three days earlier.
After his detention yesterday, he was examined by a psychiatrist, who concluded that there was no reason to hospitalize him and ruled that he could be taken to court.
The surreal episode took place yesterday between 1pm and 3pm at the La Carriona municipal cemetery in the Asturian town of Aviles.
Witnesses informed a local priest after the dead woman’s adult son marched to the funeral niche where she was buried and shouted that she had been taken from her home “without permission.”
He then proceeded to remove flowers from the grave and placed her headstone on the ground before smashing a stone partition protecting the coffin and dragging it to his nearby parked car.
Shocked onlookers are said to have tried to dissuade him from his extraordinary action. But he reportedly responded by asking them for help before placing the box in the trunk of the vehicle, where he had already lowered the back seat to fit it, and driving it the two miles to his home.
Police found him and his deceased mother in the property, still in her coffin, and arrested him before returning the coffin to the cemetery so it could be returned to its final resting place.
A man has been arrested for taking his mother’s body from her grave in a Spanish cemetery (pictured) and driving her coffin home in his car
The surreal episode took place yesterday between 1pm and 3pm at the La Carriona municipal cemetery (pictured) in the Asturian town of Aviles.
Shortly afterwards, a judge ordered it removed a second time, this time with a warrant, and ordered police to formally identify who was inside and take photos so the corpse could be checked for any damage.
The woman’s bearded son, identified only by his initials RAD, was photographed in the local press around noon today being led into the court in handcuffs, flanked by two armed police officers.
He was released about an hour later after being questioned by a judge and told he could visit his mother at the cemetery where he had disposed of her body yesterday.
But he was also warned that he was still under investigation and could ultimately be charged with serious desecration.
He declined to comment as he left the court in Aviles with his attorney.
It was not immediately clear why his mother had died or how old she had been when she died.