Houston funeral may be Friday

NEWARK, N.J. -- Whitney Houston's body headed home to New Jersey late Monday for a funeral to be held at week's end, said two people who have spoken with her family.

The two people spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to speak for the family and because arrangements hadn't been completed.

Houston's family raised the possibility of holding a wake Thursday and a funeral Friday at Newark's Prudential Center, which hosts college and professional sporting events and seats about 18,000.

City officials were awaiting the family's arrival to complete funeral plans. A picture of Houston appeared Monday night on the electronic board outside the arena. But a New Jersey Devils game Friday night poses a logistical challenge to a funeral that day.

Houston, 48, was found dead in a bathtub in her suite at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in California on Saturday, hours before she was set to appear at a pre-Grammy Awards gala.

Funeral arrangements were being made by Newark's Whigham Funeral Home, which handled the 2003 funeral of Houston's father, John Houston, said the two people who spoke to the AP.

A woman at the funeral home, where police officers were stationed, said she could neither confirm nor deny reports that it would handle the arrangements. A white tent was set up leading into the rear entrance, and two opulent golden sarcophaguses stood at the front entrance. About a dozen Houston fans went to the funeral home, where they played her songs, sang and lit candles.

The Los Angeles coroner's office said Houston's body was released to her family Monday morning, and police said her body was taken to a Los Angeles-area airport in the afternoon.