Daughter Keeps Dad's Death on Cross-Country Train a Secret for 23 Hours

Wednesday, September 06, 2006

CHICAGO — A suburban Chicago woman traveling home on Amtrak with her ailing father waited up to 23 hours to notify authorities that he'd died on the train, police said.

Daniel Stepanovich, 80, of Hammond, Ind., was pronounced dead of natural causes just after midnight Tuesday, according to the Cook County medical examiner's office.

His daughter told officials that her father died in the sleeper car Sunday evening, just as the eastbound train was pulling into Glenwood Springs, Colo.

She said she didn't tell anyone because she couldn't afford to ship his body home to Chicago, police said. The Grayslake woman has not been named.

Officials were not sure when the woman and her father boarded the cross-country train, the California Zephyr, which travels from Emeryville, Calif., to Chicago.

A neighbor said the father, who had been diagnosed with cancer, had talked of taking "one last train ride."