Chris Green
Rockford Register Star
Published 5:03 a.m. CT March 8, 2023
Six weeks after a funeral home van with a corpse in it was stolen, it is still not clear what, if any, action will be taken by the state against the funeral home.
The crime occurred Jan. 21 when a Collins & Stone Funeral Home van parked at the 128 S. Fifth St. business was left unlocked, with the engine running and unattended to allowing the suspect to enter it and drive away.
The van was recovered the next day in Chicago and the body of Curtis Brown, 47, of Rockford, was recovered Jan. 23 in the 8200 block of South Manistee Avenue on Chicago's south side.
Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation spokesman Christopher Slaby issued the following statement to the Register Star:
The IDFPR is aware of the incident involving Collins & Stone Funeral Home. IDFPR takes all allegations against licensees seriously and looks into allegations based on information from public proceedings and/or complaints filed against a licensee. Complaints filed with and investigations undertaken by IDFPR are confidential, unless and until the Department files an enforcement action or publicly disciplines the licensee. If IDFPR determines any violations were committed, the Department will take an appropriate course of action.
Even before the incident occurred the IDFPR was familiar with the funeral home having cited the business 13 times since 2009 for reasons ranging from failure to file death certificates in a timely manner and account for personal property and money to unprofessional conduct.
The latest infraction listed on the IDFPR website shows Funeral Director Brandy Collins being placed on probation in March of 2021 for two years and fined $10,000 because of "unprofessional conduct, failure to account for personal property and aiding and assisting unlicensed practice."
Collins said she has not been contacted by the IDFPR regarding the latest incident and declined to comment on the case.
Lawsuit forthcoming
Regardless of the state's action, the family of Curtis Brown said they will sue the funeral home for negligence.
"We're just waiting on our lawyer to write it up," said Ed Brown, Curtis' brother.
He said he, his mother and other family members residing in Tupelo, Mississippi, did not learn of the theft until two days after it occurred.
Police released surveillance video photos of the suspect identified as Deon Howard, 23, of Rockford. He is wanted on charges of unlawful possession of a stolen vehicle and abuse of a corpse.
Anyone with information regarding his whereabouts is asked to contact the Rockford Police Department at 815-966-2900 or call Crime Stoppers at 815-963-7867.
Chris Green: 815-987-1241; cgreen@rrstar.com; @chrisfgreen
