A 47-year-old man has been criminally charged in connection to a dismembered body that was found stuffed in a trash bag inside the back of a U-Haul truck in Philadelphia.
Taray Herring, 47, is charged with abuse of a corpse, burglary and related counts, according to a court docket sheet. A second man initially arrested was released with no charges, a Philadelphia Police Department spokesperson told NBC10.
Sources told NBC10 someone called police Wednesday because they were worried about the man believed to be the victim. Officers didn’t find him in his Northeast Philadelphia home on Sanibel Street but left after being told by a neighbor that he often travelled.
However, police said the same neighbor called them Thursday morning to report a suspicious U-Haul truck near the home. Officers stopped the truck and checked the back, where they found the bag full of body parts, as well as a weapon, investigators said.
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A source with knowledge of the investigation said police discovered more body parts in the dumpster of a Wawa store a few blocks away later that same night.
Police have not named the victim because the medical examiner is still in the process of identifying the body, a PPD spokesperson said.
Authorities on Friday removed several exotic pets from the home on Sanibel Street. Neighbors told NBC10 that the man who lived there was known as kind and someone who had "never given anyone any trouble."
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Herring is being represented by the Defender Association of Philadelphia. The group told the Philadelphia Inquirer it was not commenting on the case.
