CCTV cameras captured the shocking moment a thief approaches an open casket visitation for a recently-deceased 88-year-old woman – only to make off with her wedding ring.
The incident occurred at the Sunset Funeral Home in Odessa, Texas on Friday during a visitation for 88-year-old Lois Hicks, who had passed away the day before.
Shortly after 5:40 PM local time, the unidentified woman approached Hicks’ body in the open casket and began prying the diamond wedding ring off her right ring finger.
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After a brief struggle, the woman managed to snag the diamond ring and quickly exits the funeral home.
“As if my grandmother passing away hasn’t been hard enough on my entire family now some low life thief went into the funeral home yesterday around 5:40pm and stole the ring off her finger,” Hicks’ granddaughter Brooke Vaughan Burns wrote in an angry Facebook post the next day.
According to the family, the unknown woman also tore some skin off Hicks’ hand when she pulled the wedding ring off her finger.
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Hicks’ daughter, Vel McKee, said she and her sister Brenda had been touching up Lois’ makeup and hair for her visitation, and had only left their mother’s body for a short time when the theft occurred.
“We had only been gone for 15 minutes. It’s just heartbreaking,” McKee told the Odessa American.
“It made me sick. We just never dreamed that something like this would happen. Not in a million years.”
Bill Vallie, general manager of the funeral home, told News West 9 that this is the first time such a brazen theft had occurred at the funeral home since it opened in 1999.
Police are appealing to the public for any information. In addition, Hicks’ family has released a photograph of the ring in case it appears in any online auction websites or is sold at local pawn shops.
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