TikTok content creator arrested in murder case of Baton Rouge therapist

By Rebekah Riess, CNN

(CNN) — A TikTok content creator was arrested in Dallas this week and is facing a second-degree murder charge in the death of a Baton Rouge counselor and life coach whose body was found on the side of a Louisiana highway over the weekend, law enforcement officials said Thursday.

Terryon Thomas, the 20-year-old content creator from Louisiana, was arrested in Texas on Tuesday by the US Marshals, the agency said.

He is being held without bond on a warrant from the East Baton Rouge Sheriff’s Office for second-degree murder and obstruction of justice, among other charges, according to the sheriff’s office and Dallas County jail records.

The Tangipahoa Parish Sheriff’s Office told CNN that Thomas has “a TikTok account with the handle ‘Mr. Prada.’”

Police were called to investigate Sunday after the body of 69-year-old William Nicholas Abraham was found rolled up in a comforter and taped up with duct tape inside a tarp on the side of a highway in Tangipahoa Parish in Louisiana, the arrest warrant affidavit said. According to the Tangipahoa Parish Coroner’s Office, Abraham’s preliminary cause of death was determined to be homicide and the manner of death was blunt force trauma, the sheriff’s office said.

Abraham was a licensed professional counselor, providing counseling and psychotherapy to clients in the Baton Rouge area, according to his obituary and practice website. In a news release, the East Baton Rouge Sheriff’s Office said “the relationship of the suspect to the victim and the murder motive are still under investigation. At this time, there is no evidence to suggest that Thomas was a client of Abraham.”

On Monday, the Tangipahoa Parish Sheriff’s Office released surveillance pictures of a person they later said was Thomas, who detectives said was the last person known to have been driving Abraham’s car.

The car was spotted by Baton Rouge police on Monday afternoon when, according to the arrest warrant and sheriff’s office, Thomas sped away from an attempted traffic stop and ultimately ran away after crashing the car.

It was not immediately clear how or when Thomas arrived in Texas.

As the case developed, it was transferred from the Tangipahoa Parish Sheriff’s Office to the East Baton Rouge Sheriff’s Office, who now leads the investigation, according to the Tangipahoa Parish Sheriff’s Office.

Detectives searched Thomas’ apartment in Baton Rouge, where they found evidence that “indicated a violent physical altercation” had taken place, according to the arrest warrant.

“A significant amount of blood was observed throughout the apartment, along with multiple sharp objects and other weapons. It should be noted that additional evidence indicated an apparent effort to discard evidence by cleaning the scene,” the arrest warrant reads.

Video surveillance footage gathered by investigators also showed Abraham arriving at Thomas’ apartment complex around 11:00 a.m. on Saturday, September 28, and witnesses told detectives they saw Thomas struggling to drag an object wrapped in a tarp down stairs before loading the tarp into Abraham’s car, the warrant states.

The Louisiana State Police Crime Lab matched DNA collected from Thomas’ apartment to Abraham, according to the arrest warrant.

Investigators attempted to contact Thomas, who is being held at the Dallas County Jail, but he invoked his right to an attorney, according to the warrant. It was unclear if he had obtained an attorney as of Thursday morning. Thomas now awaits extradition to Louisiana, the East Baton Rouge Sheriff’s Office said on Thursday morning.

Before the murder charge was added Thursday, Thomas was arrested on charges of resisting an officer, aggravated criminal damage to property and unauthorized use of a motor vehicle, according to a warrant from the Baton Rouge Police Department. He has not yet entered a plea on any of the charges.

“I appreciate the work done by the Tangipahoa Parish Sheriff’s Office, Louisiana State Police and Crime Lab, Baton Rouge Police Department, U.S. Marshal’s Service and all others involved,” East Baton Rouge Sheriff Sid Gautreaux said. “This is an ongoing investigation that will take time to gather further evidence. I hope that this arrest may bring some closure and assurance to friends and family.”

The-CNN-Wire
™ & © 2024 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.