Chicago woman's body missing from morgue

[June 19, 2007]  CHICAGO (AP) -- The body of a 64-year-old woman who died last week was missing from the Cook County morgue, officials said.

Morgue employees couldn't find the body of Rosalie Schultz when a funeral director came to pick it up Monday, said Scott Denton, interim chief medical examiner.

"It is horrible," Denton said. "I wouldn't want this to happen to me and my family."

About 18 to 25 bodies are delivered to the medical examiner's office every day, he said. The office planned to contact all funeral homes that made pickups since Friday.

Schultz's cousin Rosemary Fogell said she might have to postpone a service scheduled for Wednesday.

"This is absurd," Fogell said. "How can they lose a body?"

Schultz was found dead in her Chicago apartment Thursday afternoon. An autopsy found she died from heat stress and heart disease.

Denton said corrective action would be taken when the cause of the error was determined. He did not immediately return a call Tuesday morning seeking further comment.

[Associated Press]