Inset: Carl Taylor (Houston police). Background: The bus stop where Taylor allegedly took a victim after beating him to death with a TV at his Houston, Texas, apartment (Google Maps).
Authorities in Texas arrested a 44-year-old man who allegedly beat another man to death with a TV and then placed the body in a wheelchair and wheeled him to a bus stop.
Carl Taylor is charged with murder and tampering with evidence, Houston police said in a press release. Cops responded around 8:30 a.m. on Nov. 25 to a bus stop in the 600 block of East Tidwell Road. They found an unresponsive man sitting in a wheelchair and paramedics pronounced him dead at the scene.
Detectives said they found "evidence of the murder" at a nearby apartment. According to court records, cops believe Taylor beat the man with a TV and other objects. He then allegedly placed the man in a wheelchair before being seen on surveillance video rolling the victim to the bus stop and leaving. Taylor lived at the apartment, cops said.
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The victim has not been publicly identified and investigators have not divulged a potential motive or said how the victim and suspect knew each other.
Prosecutors said police found bloody towels, a broken TV and drag marks which appeared to be from when Taylor dragged the victim across the apartment floor, according to a courtroom report from the Houston Chronicle. Cops believe the victim was homeless.
The apartment complex is reportedly for low-income seniors and disabled adults. Taylor's attorney, Mark Hochglaube, said he had yet to see the surveillance video that showed his client wheeling the body out to the bus stop.
"I'm curious to see what it shows," the attorney said, per the Chronicle. "I'm confident the evidence is going to show Mr. Taylor is innocent."
Taylor was arrested and taken to the Harris County Jail on a $130,000 bond. Records show Taylor has an extensive criminal history dating back two decades on charges including theft, making terroristic threats and resisting arrest.
His next court date is scheduled for Feb. 9.
