A man employed as a security guard at a Phoenix hospital is accused of raping an elderly woman’s body in the hospital morgue. Randall Bird, 46, was arrested this week over a disturbing Oct. 24 incident at Banner University Medical Center Phoenix, Arizona’s Family reports.
Two witnesses reportedly stumbled upon Bird acting strangely inside the morgue’s freezer—“sweating profusely” and “acting very nervous”—near the victim’s unzipped body bag. The witnesses noticed that Bird’s zipper was open and his uniform was “messy,” and he allegedly tried to hide the victim’s body as they entered, authorities said.
He later claimed to have suffered a medical episode, fainted, and fallen onto the victim’s body. Security guards are reportedly tasked with moving bodies to the morgues and freezers, but they are not supposed to open the body bags, police say.
Authorities say 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, court paperwork states. Bird told the witnesses the body bag then tore open, and the zipper broke, police said. However, the witnesses disputed this claim to police, saying the bag and zipper weren’t broken. The two then reported Bird to their supervisor.
On Oct. 25, police interviewed Bird, who claimed he had a medical episode and couldn’t remember what happened, investigators said. Crime scene investigators collected evidence from the victim and Bird, and his DNA was found on the victim.
He was taken into custody on Tuesday and booked on five counts of crimes against a dead person, a class 4 felony. In Arizona, those convicted of a class 4 felony often face between one to four years in prison for a first felony offense.
