Hearse Stolen With Body Inside
PHILLIPS: All right. So a thief decides that he needs some wheels so he steals a vehicle. It happens all of the time, right? Well, this doesn't. One thief sped off in a fully-loaded hearse. Apparently he didn't realize the dearly depart is still in the backseat. But now listen to this twist. Here's the details from Jack Shea of WJW-TV in Cleveland.</s>JACK SHEA, WJW-TV REPORTER (voice-over): Inside this non- descript building on Cleveland's east side is the Greenfield Crematory. Early Wednesday, police say a thief broke in and stole a hearse with a body inside.</s>ZACH NICOL, GREENFIELD CREMATORY: I don't know exactly when they realized that there was a body in the van, but they found the body and dumped it.</s>SHEA: Cleveland police found the stolen hearse blocking a driveway on East 55th Street and it turns out the suspect has a conscience.</s>NICOL: There was a note in the van from the thief and he left us a note telling us exactly where he dumped the body.</s>SHEA: Sure enough investigators found the body still on a gurney off Ashland Road. The assistant manager of the crematory says the deceased was brought to Greenfield late Tuesday and was scheduled to be cremated Wednesday.</s>NICOL: The van itself was locked up in our building so it was safe. It should have been safe, but --</s>SHEA (on camera): Is it customary to leave a body in there overnight?</s>NICHOL: It's kind of situational, but yes, sometimes it is.</s>SHEA (voice-over): The crematory is now offering an apology to the family of the deceased for any pain the incident may have caused them.</s>NICHOL: I mean, I'm very sorry that this had to happen. It's unfortunate, but, I mean, we were robbed.</s>PHILLIPS: All right, so you don't hear stories like that every day or year. No one's been arrested yet, but the suspect could have abuse of a corpse charges. That's not going to look really good on that old rap sheet. So you remember this guy? (</s>VIDEO CLIP, LIN YU-CHUN SINGING) PHILLIPS: Yes. It was sort of hard to figure out. He had some serious talent, though. Now he's got a new gig, recording star.</s>TIM MCGRAW, AMERICAN RED CROSS: You think about Nashville, you think, well, it's all the rich and famous country music singers live there. But this town is made up of people who live paycheck to paycheck, who work hard, and those are the people who are suffering. Those are the people who have lost their homes and they've lost their livelihoods.</s>FAITH HILL, AMERICAN RED CROSS: They've lost everything.</s>MCGRAW: They've lost everything. And there's total devastation and it's like that all over the city. I don't think that people should think that just because you saw it on TV one day and the water's gone, that it's going to gone away. There's going to be help needed for a long time, there's going to be funds that are going to be needed for a long time.</s>ANNOUNCER: Make a difference, CNN.com/impact.</s>VIDEO CLIP, LIN YU-CHUN SINGING) PHILLIPS: I know. You're thinking, is that Whitney Houston? No, as you can see, it's not. But that performance is still ringing in the ears of music industry executives looking to capitalize on this YouTube sensation. We're talking about 24-year-old Lin Yu-chun. He belted out that Whitney Houston tune on Taiwan's "Avenue to Stardom" TV show. It's just like "American Idol." Sony has now signed him to a record deal. They're the same ones that put out Susan Boyle's CD. He's expected to have a record ready to go by July in both English and Chinese. What do you think, Fredericka Whitfield?</s>FREDERICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: I like it.</s>PHILLIPS: I know.</s>WHITFIELD: I hope I could hit a high like that some point in my life.</s>PHILLIPS: You hit a high note every day, sister. Have a great day.</s>WHITFIELD: You're too sweet. OK, you too. Have a great one and a great weekend, too.</s>PHILLIPS: Thank you.