US hearse driver dies while taking body to funeral

BEVERLY HILLS, California –A hearse driver who was found dead with a body in the vehicle died while taking the casket to a funeral, Beverly Hills police said.

Lt. Lincoln Hoshino said authorities were alerted that a body was slumped over in the driver’s seat of a hearse parked near the Beverly Hills Hotel at about 3 p.m. Monday.

Hoshino said the investigation was in its early stages but the woman appeared to have died of natural causes, with no weapons or evidence of violence discovered. Coroner’s investigators will make a final determination of the cause of death.

The woman’s relatives have not been notified yet and her identity has not been released.

Police could not immediately say to which funeral home or cemetery the body was being sent.