TikTok content creator arrested in murder of Baton Rouge therapist

(CNN) — A TikTok content creator was arrested in Dallas this week and is charged with second-degree murder 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 Tuesday in Dallas after U.S. marshals there received a tip from Louisiana that Thomas was in town, the agency said. Members of the North Texas Fugitive Task Force searched the downtown area, discovered Thomas sitting on a bench and he was taken into custody without incident, according to the agency.

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

The Tangipahoa Parish Sheriff's Office told CNN that Thomas “created a TikTok account with the username 'Mr. Prada.'”

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

According to his obituary and practice website, Abraham was a licensed professional counselor who provided counseling and psychotherapy to clients in the Baton Rouge area. In a news release, the East Baton Rouge Sheriff's Office said: “The suspect's relationship to the victim and the motive for the murder remain under investigation. “At this time, there is no evidence that Thomas was a customer of Abraham's.”

On Monday, the Tangipahoa Parish Sheriff's Office released surveillance images of a person they later said was Thomas, who investigators said was the last known person to drive Abraham's car.

The car was discovered by Baton Rouge police Monday afternoon when Thomas sped away during an attempted traffic stop and eventually ran away after crashing the car, according to an arrest warrant and the sheriff's office.

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 Parish Sheriff's Office, which is now leading the investigation, according to the Tangipahoa Parish Sheriff's Office.

Investigators searched Thomas' Baton Rouge home and found evidence that “indicated a violent physical altercation,” according to the warrant.

“A significant amount of blood was observed throughout the apartment as well as several sharp objects and other weapons. “It should be noted that additional evidence indicates that there was an apparent attempt to destroy evidence by cleaning up the crime scene,” the warrant states.

Video surveillance footage collected by investigators also showed Abraham arriving at Thomas' apartment complex around 11 a.m. on Saturday, Sept. 28, and witnesses told investigators they saw Thomas struggling to retrieve an object wrapped in a tarp downstairs before loading the tarp into Abraham's car.

The Louisiana State Police crime lab matched DNA collected from Thomas' apartment to Abraham, according to the warrant.

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 allegations.

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 arrest warrant. It was unclear as of Friday whether he had hired a lawyer. According to jail records and the East Baton Rouge Sheriff's Office, Thomas remains in the Dallas County Jail awaiting extradition to Louisiana.

“I appreciate the work of the Tangipahoa Parish Sheriff's Office, the Louisiana State Police and Crime Lab, the Baton Rouge Police Department, the U.S. Marshal's Service and everyone else involved,” said East Baton Rouge Sheriff Sid Gautreaux. “This is an ongoing investigation which will take some time to gather further evidence. I hope this arrest brings some closure and reassurance to friends and family.”