In a wild turn of events, the suspect arrested after a Baton Rouge, La. therapist was found dead has been identified as a popular TikTok personality. His followers suspect he sent a warning ahead of the alleged slaying.
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Tangipahoa Parish sheriff’s deputies responded to a report of a rolled-up tarp on the side of Highway 51 near Fluker and Village of Tangipahoa Sunday night, per FOX 8 Live. Deputies say they discovered the mutilated body of 69-year-old William Nicholas Abraham, a Baton Rouge-based mental health therapist.
Sheriff Gerald Sticker said there was severe bludgeoned trauma to Abraham’s head, neck and shoulders.
“It was a very physical, very violent death,” Sticker told reporters. The cause of death was determined to be blunt force trauma and ruled a homicide. Baton Rouge police were then on the hunt to find the alleged killer.
According to an arrest warrant, the day after Abraham’s body was found, police conducted a traffic stop on the 4300 block of N. Sherwood Forest Blvd. When officers ordered the driver to exit the vehicle, police say he reversed into the patrol car and fled the scene.
The vehicle was identified as Abraham’s stolen black Lincoln. When the car was spotted again, police attempted another traffic stop but the driver fled again and ultimately, took off on foot, the warrant says.
When the sheriff’s office released store surveillance photos of the driver, many online users were shocked to recognize the young man as 20-year-old Terryon Ishmael Thomas, or “Mr. Prada” from TikTok. His popular skits and satire have earned him more than four million followers.
Some users have since scanned his platform profiles and located a haunting video with the caption, “practicing my mugshot ‘cus this might be the year someone gonna meet God if they piss me off too much.” They also found a video where he explains he was diagnosed with bipolar disorder.
Thomas managed to make it to Texas before being arrested by Dallas police Monday evening. He was booked in Dallas County Jail for aggravated criminal damage to property, resisting an officer and unauthorized use of a motor vehicle, jail records show. At the moment, he faces no charges in connection to the homicide. However, he will go before a Dallas judge for extradition back to Baton Rouge.
Anyone with information is asked to call the sheriff’s office at (985) 908-2008 or Crime Stoppers of Tangipahoa at (800) 554-5245.
