Phoenix hospital guard, 46, is charged with raping the BODY of an elderly woman at the morgue after witnesses said they saw the man ‘sweating profusely on top of the gurney with his zipper open’
- Randall Bird was arrested and released from Banner University Medical Center
- Witnesses saw him in a freezer in the morgue with the body of a 79-year-old woman
- The guard said he had had a medical episode and could not remember what happened
A security guard at an Arizona hospital has been accused of raping the corpse of an elderly woman after witnesses caught him in the act.
Randall Bird, 46, was arrested Tuesday and released from Banner University Medical Center in Phoenix following an investigation that began in October.
Police were called to the medical center on October 24 after workers reported seeing Bird in a freezer at the morgue. He was reportedly found on top of a stretcher with the body of a 79-year-old woman who had died of natural causes.
According to court documents, two witnesses realized something was wrong when they discovered the hospital morgue doors were closed from the inside and they could see a light in the freezer.
Randall Bird, 46, was arrested Tuesday and released from Banner University Medical Center in Phoenix following an investigation that began in October
Police were called to the medical center on October 24 after employees reported seeing Bird in a freezer at the morgue, on top of a gurney containing the body of a 79-year-old woman.
Investigators said: ‘Witnesses observed [Bird] in the freezer sweating profusely and behaving very nervously.
‘They stated that [Bird] had taken off his duty belt, which they saw on top of a stretcher where a deceased body was being placed in bags.
‘[Bird’s] The zipper on his uniform pants was wide open and the rest of his uniform looked messy.”
When the witnesses walked into the morgue, Bird immediately tried to cover the victim’s body.
Bird then told the other guards that he had had a medical episode and grabbed the victim’s body as he fell while passing out, tearing the body bag and zipper.
But witnesses claimed that neither the bag nor the zipper were broken. The body bag was completely unzipped and the victim’s body was face down, police said.
The witnesses said this was unusual because the bodies are never placed that way and the body bags are not allowed to be unzipped by guards.
As a security guard at the hospital, Bird participated in the mortuary intake process, which involves taking the deceased bodies to the morgue, verifying their identities and placing them in a large freezer.
However, he was not supposed to open the body bags or touch the bodies.
After the hospital contacted police, investigators found Bird’s DNA on the victim’s body, as well as wounds. The victim is not mentioned.
Bird repeated the claim that he had a medical emergency and could not remember what happened when police interviewed him after his arrest.
Following Bird’s arrest, the hospital said in a statement: ‘We are saddened and shocked by the alleged actions of an individual. Recently, Banner team members identified and reported the behavior of an employee at the hospital morgue. Banner launched an internal investigation, filed a police report and fired the employee.
“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. We are grateful for the work of the Phoenix Police Department in investigating and handling this case, and we will continue to cooperate with law enforcement.”
Bird faces five charges of crimes against a dead person, all felonies.
He has no criminal record and has been released under supervised release until a preliminary hearing scheduled for January.