ST. LOUIS COUNTY, Mo. — A man has been sentenced to prison for stealing a funeral van with a woman's body inside last February.
Brian Schaake, 39, entered a blind plea to the class D felony of stealing a motor vehicle and was sentenced in St. Louis County Circuit Court on Friday to six years in prison, the sentence recommended by the office of St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney's office. The sentencing range for a class D felony is one to seven years in prison or one year in jail.
According to a release from the attorney's office, Schaake admitted that on Feb. 11, 2021, he and a co-defendant stole a funeral van owned by William Harris Funeral Home from the Quiktrip on 12110 Lusher Rd.
A funeral home employee had left the van running at a gas pump with the keys inside as he went into the Quiktrip to use the restroom. When he came back out, the van was gone.
Video surveillance showed Schaake getting into the driver's side as a woman got into the passenger side. They then drove away. Surveillance footage from a Walgreen's across the street showed two people who matched their descriptions entering and exiting the Walgreen's and then walking across the street toward the QuickTrip.
The next morning in Jefferson County, a driver spotted the van and followed it.
The van pulled into the Walmart parking lot in Festus and the driver alerted police. Schaake and Christina Kalb were arrested inside the Walmart, and the van and body were recovered.
Christina Kalb was charged with second-degree misdemeanor tampering with another vehicle. According to court records, she failed to appear for a Jan. 13 court hearing. The hearing was rescheduled for Feb. 17, with a warrant to be issued if she does not appear.
"Stealing a hearse with someone's loved one inside of it - it's about as low as one can go," St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney Wesley Bell stated in the release.
