TikTok star charged with murder after death of therapist who was found dead wrapped in tarp on side of road

20-year-old influencer Terryon Ishmael Thomas, better known online as Mr. Prada, has been charged with second degree murder and obstruction of justice, several days after therapist William Nicholas Abraham, aged 69, was found dead.

The body of well-known therapist and motivational speaker William Nicholas Abraham was found after a member of the public noticed some suspicious blue tarp rolled up at the side of a busy road at the weekend and contacted the police.

A passerby had noticed the tarp on the side of Highway 51 in the American states of Louisiana just before 8am on Sunday (September 29) and alerted the Tangipahoa Parish Sheriff's Office, Fox 8 Live reports. Deputies who arrived on the scene then found the body of 69-year-old Abraham, a beloved local therapist, inside the tarp.

The day after his body was found, a Baton Rouge police officer saw 20-year-old influencer Terryon Ishmael Thomas, better known online as Mr. Prada, driving Abraham's black Lincoln MKZ, according to an arrest warrant obtained by a local publication called WBRZ.

The warrant states that Thomas refused to obey as the officer attempted to conduct a traffic stop, and instead backed into the police vehicle and fled on foot while officers recovered the victim's vehicle. The suspect was later captured on a nearby store's surveillance cameras. Thomas was later taken into custody in Dallas, which is about six hours away from Louisiana by car, on Tuesday (October 1) following a manhunt.

Now, Thomas has been charged with second degree murder and obstruction of justice, according to the East Baton Rouge Sheriff’s Office, and is in custody in Dallas, Texas, awaiting extradition to Louisiana.

Police searched Thomas’ apartment in Baton Rouge, where they allegedly found evidence of a “violent physical altercation” and “a significant amount of blood” and unspecified weapons. They added that witnesses allegedly saw Thomas dragging “an object wrapped in a blue-coloured tarp” into the therapist’s car on Saturday (28 September), the day before Mr Abraham’s body was found.

Officers also said video surveillance footage also apparently showed Abraham arriving earlier that day at the apartment complex where Thomas lived, wearing the same clothes that his body was later found in.

Authorities previously said Abraham’s death was caused by blunt force trauma. “It was a very physical and very violent attack,” Tangipahoa Sheriff Gerald Sticker said, according to WAFB. “He was bludgeoned about in the head, shoulders and neck. There was a lot of bruising.”

A motive for Abraham’s murder remains unclear and police have not specified how Thomas and Abraham knew each other, or if Thomas was a client of the therapist.

Abraham's friends and family are also demanding answers. “I want to know who did it and I want to know why,' his brother, Tommy Abraham, told WBRZ. “I watch the news every night and I just sit back there and cringe when I hear someone killed somebody. It's just not the way it's supposed to be.”

He added: “No one should take a life but God. No one. He's the only one that can take a life, and for someone to take someone else's life, you're a coward.”

Abraham also doubled as a life coach, 'motivational speaker, recording artist, author, teacher and trailblazer,' according to his website, which notes that he had experience treating substance abuse, anxiety and depression and worked with the LGBTQ community.

“He was kind, loving, a gentle man and frankly not the kind of man that something like this would've happened to,” added Abraham's attorney, Jarret Ambeau. “I'm absolutely devastated and completely surprised that something like that could've happened to a man who I believe to be so tender and so gentle and have such a service heart.”

“This is an ongoing investigation that will take time to gather further evidence,” Casey Hicks of the East Baton Rouge’s Sheriff’s Office said in a statement. “I hope that this arrest may bring some closure and assurance to friends and family,” she said.

Thomas has 4.3 million followers on TikTok and is known to his fans for recording humorous skits under the name Mr Prada.