Casket with body inside found on a sidewalk in Houston

A bicyclist,Yoel Rubio made the bizarre discovery on Tuesday morning when he was riding his bicycle along a bayou path, when he saw the casket. “I’ve never seen anything like it,” Rubio said.  “It was crazy.”

This happened near Keegan’s Bayou in southwest Houston.  Police believe stormwaters lifted the casket out of the ground from nearby Riceville Cemetery, then carried it about 100 yards.

After unsuccessfully trying to move the casket out of the middle of the path, Rubio called police.

They say a woman’s body was found inside.  The medical examiner is trying to confirm the identity.

Riceville Cemetery is owned by Riceville Mt. Olive Baptist Church on South Gessner Road.

Deacon Reginald Fields says members have been buried there since 1989.

He says the body belongs to a female church member who died seven or eight years ago.  “It’s disheartening when you have a situation like this,” Fields said.  “Nobody wants to come eight years later to relive someone’s death.”

Fields says he is waiting to hear back from the medical examiner to find out if the body will need to be placed in another casket.  He says he has been in touch with the family of the deceased woman.