Woman Rides Train with Dead Father

By Joanna Miller in News on Sep 6, 2006 8:50PM

In the movies, traveling around with a dead guy makes for great comedy (see Weekend at Bernie’s, Little Miss Sunshine). In real life, it’s just, well, kinda gross, and sad.

But that’s exactly what a Grayslake woman did this weekend when her 80-year-old father died on a cross-country Amtrak trip.

Daniel Stepanovich of Hammond, Ind., passed away somewhere around Glenwood Springs, Colo., but he wasn’t officially pronounced dead until just after midnight on Tuesday, seven hours after the train pulled into Union Station. The Cook County medical examiner said he died from heart disease and cancer.

The daughter said she didn’t tell authorities that her father had died because she didn’t have enough money to ship the body home. And, really, what else was she supposed to do? He was in one of the train’s sleeper cars, so it’s not like he was propped up against a window next to a Girl Scout troop or anything. ‘Cause stuff like that only happens in the movies.

Amtrak #14 - Coast Starlight via lazytom