Couple Drops off Dead Body at Hospital then Drives away

</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[Perry County authorities say they at least want to question a man and a woman who pulled up to the side door of the Pinckneyville Community Hospital early Tuesday, dropped off the body of a dead man who had been riding around in their back seat, then drove off.

The dead man has since been identified as Joseph Scott Hurley, 25, of Waterloo.

Authorities didn't have to go far to find out about the man. Monroe County deputies were only a block away at the Perry County Courthouse providing security during jury selection in the Christopher Coleman triple murder case. Tuesday was the second day of jury selection, moved to Perry County from Waterloo on a change of venue because of pre-trial publicity.

The two Monroe County deputies were able to tell Sheriff Kellerman and Pinckneyville Chief of Police John Griffin that Hurley had a drug-related criminal record from his travels in the Waterloo and New Athens areas.

Sheriff Kellerman said he believes the ongoing investigation will point to a drug overdose as a contributing cause to his death.

The sheriff said that if the couple is found they could be charged with obstruction of justice, but little else. The couple didn't try to conceal the death. They just dropped off the body and drove away.

Kellerman said the man and woman apparently pulled into the Pinckneyville Casey's on West Water Street with the dead man in the back seat of their car. Kellerman said the couple bought "items" in the store--thought to be cigarettes--and asked the clerk "Where's the nearest hospital?"

That's a clear indication the couple isn't from the area.

The Pinckneyville Community Hospital is about four blocks northeast of the Casey's store.

Authorities asked the clerk for any surveillance tapes of the parking lot, but they do not show the car's license plate.

The couple did not drive up to the emergency room doors. Instead, the car was parked alongside the patient wing where there is no surveillance camera.

The woman sat in the front seat of the car smoking a cigarette while the man went inside to tell a nurse about the man in his back seat.

Hurley was unresponsive and the nurse loaded him onto a wheelchair so he could be moved into the hospital's ER.

The driver quickly climbed back into the car and the couple drove away. Authorities say the nurse has a rough description of the car and could remember the couple. Authorities have already interviewed staff members working that shift.

The man was moved into the ER shortly before 6:30 a.m. and the attempts to revive him failed, Perry County Coroner Paul Searby was called, and Hurley was pronounced dead shortly after 6 a.m.

By then, officers from the Illinois State Police, Pinckneyville Police Department and sheriff's office were all on scene at the hospital.

The driver is said to have made some reference to the fact he thought his "buddy" had too much to drink.

Kellerman said the man's last name "Hurley" was embedded in one of his many tattoos, which gave police their first lead.

"He was part of a roofing crew," Kellerman added. "He knew drugs," said Kellerman. "We believe this was an overdose."

Kellerman said the nearby Monroe County deputies gave his department enough information to be able to locate his parents and contact them.

Authorities will continue to try and find out where Hurley had been the night before and who he was with. "We would like to put some closure to this," said Kellerman.