John Byron Wilson, a 38-year-old man from Houston, Texas, has been arrested and charged in connection with a body discovered in a U-Haul truck at a storage facility in west Houston. The arrest comes over two months after the incident, which took place on June 9 at a facility located at 10200 Katy Freeway.
According to investigators, employees at the storage facility near Memorial City Mall noticed a foul smell emanating from the truck around 5:30 p.m. Upon opening the truck, they discovered a body wrapped in multiple layers of plastic. The body was later identified as 25-year-old Taran Groves. The cause and manner of her death are still under investigation.
Court documents reveal that drugs, identified as methamphetamine, were found wrapped around Groves’ body. Further investigation suggests that Groves had visited Wilson’s home on June 3, a few days before her body was discovered, with the intention of consuming narcotics. It is believed that she died as a result of a drug overdose.
Authorities suspect that Groves’ body remained in Wilson’s home from June 3 until June 8, when Wilson allegedly borrowed the U-Haul truck. It is alleged that he then wrapped the body in plastic, along with the narcotics, and transported it to the storage facility.
Wilson has been charged with tampering with a human corpse and is expected to appear in court soon. The case has drawn attention due to the circumstances surrounding Groves’ death and the subsequent handling of her body.
Groves, a young mother, was found “laying on a couch” and “wrapped in several layers of plastic” under a pile of debris in the back of the locked truck on June 9. Police also found a small amount of methamphetamine, a glass pipe, and several empty naloxone containers wrapped in the plastic used to cover her body.
An anonymous tipster provided information about the location of Groves’ body and the person who allegedly transported her corpse to the storage facility. This led to the arrest of Wilson, who is now facing charges of tampering with or fabricating physical evidence.