"Alleged killer admits having sex with body"

KIRO news reports deputies arrested Bernard Howell on Sunday in connection with the woman’s slaying after they pulled him over and discovered the victim's body in his vehicle, according to the report.

The 26-year-old suspect said in court yesterday that he found the body, had sex with it and was planning to dump the corpse, the article stated.

It also stated that Mr Howell had allegedly asked a stranger to help him dispose of the body and that the unidentified man called authorities, who tracked down and stopped Mr Howell's truck.

They said they found the deceased, who was in her late 50s, inside a sleeping bag in the back seat of the pickup.

"He basically said he was trying to save the woman's family from paying for a funeral, yet we can't find the evidence he knew who this woman was," Thurston County Sheriff's Department representative Jim Chamberlain said.