Man faces charge of corpse abuse

RUSSELLVILLE — A Mississippi man was arrested and charged Thursday night with various charges ranging from abuse of corpse to theft of property related to a 2024 case.

Franklin County Sheriff’s Sgt. Kyle Palmer said Charles Lee Burney, 30, was arrested in connection with the death of a 58-yearold man in December 2024.

Palmer said Burney was at a known drug house on the 2300 block of Alabama Highway 84 on Dec. 8, 2024. While he was there a man who was identified as Charles Wyatt King was walking to his truck and died before he entered his truck.

“[Burney] helped himself to [King’s] wallet and took the $567 in cash from it, took some keys from him and broke into his truck,” Palmer said. “By taking from his person while the man was dead, that constituted the abuse of corpse charge.”

The case was presented to a February 2025 grand jury, which returned a fivecount indictment. Burney was charged with abuse of corpse, third-degree theft of property, unlawful breaking and entering of a motor vehicle, obstruction of governmental operations, and tampering with physical evidence.

Burney also was charged with one count each of firstdegree theft of property, unlawful breaking and entering of a motor vehicle, and tampering with physical evidence.

Jail officials said those charges are new charges from a current warrant within the county.

Palmer said Burney had not been arrested sooner because he doesn’t have a permanent residence within Franklin County.

“When we arrived on the scene in 2024, [Burney] had already fled the scene, and we had not found him at the time,” Palmer said.