Photo: Bexar County Jail
Two teenagers in Texas have been arrested after they posted a video to Snapchat of themselves stealing a necklace from a dead body they discovered.
Bethany Martin, 17, and a 16-year-old female friend happened upon a man’s corpse in a drainage ditch last Monday, the Bexar County Sheriff’s Office tells PEOPLE.
The deceased was later identified as 25-year-old Marcus Adams, and his death has since been ruled a suicide. His family has set up aGoFundMeto assist them with funeral costs.
But police say that the day after his body was found, the sheriff’s office was made aware of a video circulating online showing “a 17 year old female removing jewelry from the decedent’s neck,” officials tell PEOPLE.
“If itweren’t on video? I wouldn’t believe that it happened,” Sheriff Javier Salazar told KENS-5.
Martin was arrested last Tuesday and charged as an adult with felony theft from a human corpse or grave. She’s since been released on $2,000 bail, according to police. The 16-year-old faces the same charges, though she is considered a juvenile and has not been named.
An attorney for Martin was not immediately able to be found.
“It was disturbing because they’re laughing. ‘I can’t believe you’re doing this,’ or words to that effect, treating it as a joke,” Salazar reportedly told KENS 5.
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The video subsequently made its way to the Nextdoor app, where neighbors in the vicinity continued sharing the clip before law enforcement was alerted. A family member of the deceased also saw the video, Sheriff Salazar noted to KENS 5.
“It’s bad enough to steal from the living. Butto steal from the dead? He’s helpless. He’s no longer here. He couldn’t fight back,” the father of deceased, Marcus Adams Sr. told KENS 5, as the family said they want the girls held responsible to the full extent of the law.
source: people.com
