An Arizona man has been fired from his job as a hospital security guard and charged with numerous criminal counts for engaging in necrophilia with a 79-year-old woman’s corpse, authorities say.
Randall Bird, 46, stands accused of five crimes against a dead person, according to the Phoenix Police Department. The charge is a class 4 felony and carries a substantial potential prison sentence.
Content warning: graphic sexual information.
In a statement to Law&Crime, police said they received the initial call about the incident on Oct. 24. Officers arrived at Banner University Medical Center Phoenix near 7th Street and McDowell Road in response to “suspected misconduct involving a man.”
After a lengthy investigation, Bird was arrested on Tuesday. He was able to quickly obtain bail and was granted supervised release.
Police elaborated on the incident in comments to independent and CBS-affiliated Phoenix TV station KTVK. According to investigators, Bird worked as a security guard whose duties included transporting dead bodies to a freezer in the hospital’s morgue.
Video surveillance reportedly cited by law enforcement showed the body of a septuagenarian, who is not being named, arrive at the hospital on Oct. 22. The defendant was allegedly the guard responsible for transporting the body to the morgue that day.
Court documents cited by the TV station allege that two witnesses reported finding the door to the morgue locked from the inside – which they said was not typical. The witnesses went on to describe seeing a light inside of a freezer and the freezer door cracked open.
The witnesses then told police they looked through the crack in the freezer to find Bird “sweating profusely” and “acting very nervous.” The defendant had allegedly removed his duty belt, KTVK reports. He also allegedly had his zipper down and his uniform was described by the witnesses as “messy.”
Investigators also allege the body bag was unzipped, the victimized corpse was face down, and that Bird’s belt was on top of the gurney.
Randall Bird appears in a booking photo in November 2023. (Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office)
Eventually, the witnesses walked in on Bird, police claim. The security guard then allegedly tried to cover up the woman’s body and went on to offer an excuse. The defendant allegedly said he had a medical episode and fainted – grabbing the body bag as he fell, accidentally ripping open the bag and breaking the zipper in the process.
The witnesses disputed Bird’s version of events in comments to a supervisor – saying neither the bag nor the zipper were broken.
A follow-up investigation by law enforcement eventually determined that the woman’s dead body showed signs of trauma and tested positive for Bird’s DNA – which was collected by law enforcement on Oct. 25. The defendant, for his part, maintains that he fainted in the morgue but cannot remember what happened next.
Banner Health addressed the controversy.
“We are saddened and appalled by the alleged actions of an individual at Banner–University Medical Center Phoenix that resulted in his arrest on November 28, 2023,” a spokesperson told Law&Crime. “Recently, Banner team members identified and reported concerning behavior of an employee in the hospital morgue. Banner initiated an internal investigation, filed a report with law enforcement and terminated 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,” the hospital’s statement continued. “Out of respect for the family, we will not further comment at this time.”
Law&Crime reached out to the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office for additional details on this story but no response was immediately forthcoming at the time of publication.
Have a tip we should know? [email protected]
