World War II Veteran’s Body Found In Suitcase

Police say an 89-year-old man whose body was found in a suitcase in Arkansas was a World War II veteran from New York.

According to the NY Post, Robert Brooks died of natural causes in his Johnstown, New York, home about a month before his body was found in a large suitcase in rural Arkansas.

David Gilbo of the Johnstown Police Department told Arkansas Online that Brooks was “a war hero who could have been buried at the [Arlington] National Cemetery,” adding, “Instead, he ends up in a suitcase dumped in a field in Arkansas.”

Virginia “Ginger” Colvin, 56, was arrested at a Perry County home on March 8, after Brooks’ body was found on March 5 in a field in Arkansas. Michael Stivers was also arrested in connection wtih the crime. Stivers was being held on unrelated charges in the Lonoke County Jail.

Stivers and Colvin were both charged with abusing a corpse, according to Arkansas Online.

Gilbo called the case “bizarre” and said that police are still trying to determine how Brooks’ body was moved to Arkansas.

Police say that Brooks was 4 feet 11 inches tall and that he wasn’t dismembered in order for his body to fit inside the suitcase.

Gilbo says that police do not consider Brooks’ death a homicide. Investigators are working to determine whether Colvin and Stivers, her boyfriend, may have tried to cover up Brooks’ death in order to continue receiving his Social Security payments.

Brooks had been deceased for a month before his body was found.

Colvin and her niece were listen as Brooks’ caregivers. Stivers was also considered a caregiver after he began dating Colvin, according to Gilbo.

“[Colvin] said Mr. Brooks wanted to be buried in Arkansas before he died,” Gilbo said. However, the officer says that some family members say he never expressed a desire to be buried there.

Authorities learned from Brooks’ family members that Brooks served in the military in World War II. He was a gunner in a B-17 Bomber’s ball turret, also known as a “belly gunner.”

“It’s the most dangerous assignment in war,” Prairie County Sheriff Rick Hickman told Arkansas Online. “The belly gunner is a small bubble on the bottom of the place. The enemy wants to shoot at him first. Life expectancy on that job is very short.” 

Sources: NY Post, Arkansas Online / Photo Credit: Shutterstock via NY Post