Bird was booked on five counts of crimes against a dead person. (Representative pic)
A hospital security guard in the United States has been arrested for allegedly having sex with a 79-year-old woman's dead body inside a morgue in Arizona last month. According to the New York Post, the incident took place inside the Banner University Medical Center morgue in Phoenix, where 46-year-old Randall Bird worked as a security guard. He was hit with multiple charges after police launched an investigation late last month into the sickening allegations.
According to the Post, the 79-year-old woman's body arrived at the morgue on October 22. Randall Bird was in charge of taking the dead bodies to the morgue and slipping them into the freezer. However, court documents stated that two witnesses caught the man with his belt off, zipper down and his uniform looking "messy" on October 22. They also saw the 46-year-old "sweating profusely" and "acting very nervous" while in the freezer.
The elderly woman's body bag was unzipped and she was face down with Bird's belt on top of the gurney where the victim's body was. Authorities said that as the witnesses walked into the morgue, Bird immediately tried covering the victim's body. He then claimed that he had a medical episode and fainted and grabbed the victim's body as he fell to the floor.
According to the court documents, the 46-year-old insisted that the body bag tore and the zipper broke as a result, but his co-workers didn't believe him and reported him to their supervisors.
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Police interviewed Bird three days after the incident. He again claimed that he had a medical episode and could not remember what happened. But investigators determined his DNA was left at the scene and injuries were found on the woman's body.
Bird was taken into custody on Tuesday and booked on five counts of crimes against a dead person. The hospital confirmed that he was terminated from his job.
"We are saddened and appalled by the alleged actions of an individual at Banner-University Medical Center Phoenix that resulted in his arrest on November 28, 2023," hospital officials said in a statement, as per CBS 5. "Banner Health has and remains committed to high standards that require each of our team members to treat everyone, at every stage of life, with compassion, dignity, and respect," the statement added.