Authorities: Man moved human remains, put head in bucket

PHOENIX – Authorities say a homeless man moved the dead body of a man from his remote Arizona desert campsite and put the man’s head in a bucket.

A Jan. 17 criminal complaint charges 52-year-old Mattew David Hall with abandonment or concealment of a dead body in his alleged handling of the remains of 72-year-old Daniel Lucas of Baltic, South Dakota.

The Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement Tuesday that Lucas killed himself last summer inside his vehicle at the site 90 miles (145 kilometres) west of Phoenix.

The office says Hall discovered the remains and moved them outside.

The complaint says Hall later saw the remains with “sustained evidence of animal activity” and acknowledged putting the head in a bucket.

Court records did not list an attorney for Hall.