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).
Houston police reported the arrest following an unusual discovery on November 25. Officers were dispatched at approximately 8:30 a.m. to a bus stop on East Tidwell Road, where they found a man, unresponsive and seated in a wheelchair. Emergency responders pronounced the man dead at the scene.
As the investigation unfolded, detectives linked the crime scene to a nearby apartment. Court documents reveal that police suspect Taylor used a TV and additional objects in the assault. Surveillance footage allegedly captured Taylor transferring the victim’s body to a wheelchair and pushing it to the bus stop, where he left it.
Residency records indicate that Taylor lived at the apartment where evidence of the murder was discovered. Authorities have yet to release the victim’s identity, and details regarding the relationship between Taylor and the deceased remain unclear.
Prosecutors detailed in a courtroom session, as reported by the Houston Chronicle, that the police recovered bloody towels, a shattered television, and drag marks inside the apartment. These findings suggest that the victim, who is believed to have been homeless, was dragged across the floor before being placed in the wheelchair.
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.
