Police in Huntsville, Alabama, are being questioned after a woman’s body was found in the back of a rarely utilized police van.  

According to CNN, a police officer found the body of Christina Nance on October 7, after she had been missing since October 2, in the back of the Huntsville Public Safety Complex parking lot, Huntsville Deputy Police Chief DeWayne McCarver reported.  

“The officer noticed shoes next to the van and approached, discovering Ms. Nance’s body inside. Windows on the van were observed to be opened and on this type of van they popped outward,” he said.  

McCarver says the department’s policy is to keep the vans locked. “All city vehicles should remain locked any time they are not in use or occupied,” he said. “Sometimes, you just have to say that was something that shouldn’t have happened. It did.” 

The rarely used van was originally bought to be an inmate transport vehicle in 1995 and then became repurposed for evidence transportation in the early 2000s. Due to the original purpose of the car being for inmate transportation, once the back doors are closed, there is no way to open them from the inside.  

Video surveillance footage shows Nance’s movements on September 25 and when she accessed the van’s windows.  

“Ms. Nance is observed in the video, walking around the parking lot” on the 25th, McCarver said. “She lays down in the bushes at some point (and) she sits on the hood of a police car for some time. She approaches other cars in the parking lot. … And this all happens for about 10 minutes before she enters the van.” 

Ben Crump, a civil rights attorney who has represented families of Black victims like George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, will be representing the Nance family.  

“We will get to the truth of what happened to Christina Nance, the young Black woman found dead in the police van in front of the Huntsville Police Department. We lift up Christina’s family with prayer as they mourn this devastating loss,” Crump said.