Woman keeps dad's death on train secret to avoid shipping cost

Associated Press
Sept. 6, 2006 06:00 AM

CHICAGO - An Amtrak passenger traveling with her ailing father waited nearly 23 hours and about 1,000 miles to tell authorities he had died so she could avoid the cost of shipping the body home, police said.

The train had reached Chicago when Daniel Stepanovich's daughter told officials that he had died in a sleeper car on Sunday evening, about the time the train was pulling into Glenwood Springs, Colo., said Chicago Police spokeswoman Jo Ann Taylor.

The woman told police she couldn't afford to ship his body home. She said Stepanovich, 80, suffered from lung and brain cancer.


Stepanovich was pronounced dead of natural causes on Tuesday, according to the Cook County medical examiner's office. He had lived in Hammond, Ind. His daughter, who was not identified, lives in the Chicago suburb of Grayslake.

Officials were not sure when the two boarded the cross-country train, the California Zephyr, which travels from Emeryville, Calif., to Chicago.

Amtrak spokesman Marc Magliari said he couldn't recall a situation in which a passenger's death went unreported for so long.

Bring home your dead

someone's gonna lose their job over that I'll bet....

I can't imagine what a sad affair the funeral will be if she cut corners on shipping the body back...

I don't really blame her in a way. It costs A LOT to ship a dead body. Much more than you think it does.
I once looked into this exact matter because there was a time when I wanted my remains to be buried across the ocean where I grew up. The price for shipping remains was incredible!
Also, there wasn't much sense for her to raise the alarm about his death. I imagine not much could have been done to revive him as he had lung and brain cancer.

I don't think he died on the train... she somehow got him on board with her...

The way I read it is that he died on the train. The reasons why I think this is here: "An Amtrak passenger traveling with her ailing father waited nearly 23 hours and about 1,000 miles to tell authorities he had died so she could avoid the cost of shipping the body home." and here "The train had reached Chicago when Daniel Stepanovich's daughter told officials that he had died in a sleeper car on Sunday evening, about the time the train was pulling into Glenwood Springs, Colo."

My mistake, I stand corrected.

why did she travel from Colorado all the way to Chicago to tell those cops that her father was dead?

This happens all the time. I have found my self in this situation more than I can count.

Bizarre ... now thats being frugal.

I believe they said that in the first few posts.

Should I laugh or ask questions? LOL

WEEKEND AT BERNIE'S, Part XXI

He had never been to California and he wanted to see the Golden Gate Bridge before he passed. She thought that they could make it and they didn't. She didn't want him to be taken away to be autoposed in some strange Colorado morgue. She wanted him home with us, his family.

And the Weekend at Bernie's comments are tasteless. How would you feel if it were your grandfather? Shame on you.

care to explain! racking brains cant think how

This sounds more like "Little Miss Sunshine" or "National Lampoon's Vacation".

All in all--I don't blame the daughter. He died on the train, nothing more could be done, and he was already on his way home. No foul, in my book.