Authorities in Texas are trying to determine if a man allegedly infatuated with 25-year-old Julie Mott stole her body from a San Antonio funeral home two weeks ago.
According to a police report obtained by The San Antonio Express-News, a 20-something man, who has not been identified, had been "obsessed" with calling and texting Mott. He was also reportedly the last person seen leaving the funeral home after her service. Authorities have not released any additional details on the potential suspect.
At a Friday press conference, San Antonio Police Department Sgt. Javier Salazar would only say that investigators have questioned a number of individuals and are not yet ready to "rule out anyone at this point."
Salazar described the crime as unlike anything he has "ever heard of" during his 22-year career in law enforcement, according to The Ledger Gazette.
The theft occurred at the Mission Park Funeral Chapels North facility after Julie Mott's funeral service ended on Aug. 15, which would have been her 26th birthday.
"She was removed from here and taken to a visitation suite and would have been moved on [Aug. 17] to be cremated at the crematory, to Mission South," longtime family friend and funeral home owner Dick Tips said during Friday's press conference.
Salazar said his department believes the theft occurred sometime between the end of Mott's funeral, at 1:30 p.m. and the closing of the funeral home, at about 4:30 p.m.
Employees discovered Mott's empty casket the following morning.
Police said they do not suspect the theft occurred after the funeral home closed, as there are no signs of a break-in. The funeral home was not equipped with surveillance cameras, making it difficult for police to determine whether multiple individuals were involved in the theft.
Mott died on Aug. 8, following a lifelong struggle with cystic fibrosis. According to her Facebook page, she was a 2010 graduate of San Antonio College. Her obituary described her as a vibrant, passionate woman who refused to let her disease "define her life," nbcnews.com reported.
The crime has police baffled and Mott's friends and family are struggling to understand a motive.
Tips suspects whoever took Mott's remains might have been opposed to cremation.
"We think it is possible … someone didn’t believe in the cremation process, versus the traditional burial process," Tips said.
San Antonio police did not return multiple calls for comment from The Huffington Post on Friday.
Whoever is responsible for taking Mott's body faces a charge of abuse of a corpse, which is a misdemeanor in Texas, punishable by up to a year in jail and a $4,000 fine. Tips said he plans to ask lawmakers to consider increasing the penalty.
Meanwhile, Mott's family wants the person responsible to come forward and return her so she can be laid to rest.
"We just want our daughter's remains returned so that we can have some closure to our grief," Mott's father, Tim Mott, told reporters Friday.
The Mission Parks Funeral Home is reportedly offering $20,000 for information that leads to the recovery of Mott's remains. Anyone with information is asked to call 210-225-8477.
