HOUSTON – An arrest has been made in connection with the body of a woman which was found in the back of a U-Haul truck in June.
John Byron Wilson, 38, is charged with tampering/fabricating with physical evidence. He was arrested on August 3.
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According to court documents, the body of Tara Groves was found on a couch in the back of the truck wrapped in plastic on June 9. Authorities responded to the storage facility off the Katy Freeway where the truck had been dropped off after receiving a tip about the body.
While investigators were preparing Groves’ body for autopsy, they found empty Narcan canisters, a glass pipe and a small chunk of a crystal-like substance which turned out to be methamphetamine.
Wilson was said to be the person who drove the U-Haul truck to the facility earlier in the day. The truck had also been reported stolen earlier in the day.
Detectives spoke with a friend of Wilson. The friend said Wilson had asked to borrow his truck to move furniture a few days before Groves’ body was found. When Wilson returned the truck a few days later, his friend drove him back to his house. While they were driving, the friend said Wilson told him there was a woman’s body in the back of the U-Haul truck he had borrowed from him.
The documents said Wilson told the friend the woman had overdosed on drugs at his home and Wilson hadn’t called police because another woman had recently died at his home before. He decided to get rid of the most recent body instead of calling police.
The friend told his wife what Wilson had told him and she called police.
Police also spoke with a friend of Groves, who helps take care of her child. She told police Groves had sent her a Facebook message with the location of Wilson’s house the last night she was alive. She told police when Groves sends an address like this, it typically means she was going to do drugs and wanted people to know where she was.
Groves’ mother-in-law also drove by the house and saw the U-Haul truck in the driveway.
Days after Groves’ body was found, detectives spoke with Wilson on the phone. Wilson told police Groves had gotten drunk, stolen fentanyl and then left. He didn’t mention her death.
The documents said detectives learned Wilson had called 911 in February after a different woman was found dead inside his home due to an overdose, but Wilson was not arrested or charged with a crime.
According to the report, Wilson offered his friend $20,000 to tell police that the friend knew Groves’ body was in the back of the truck and instead had asked Wilson to drive the truck without him knowing she was back there.
Wilson’s arrest brings relief to Groves’ loved ones. KPRC 2 spoke exclusively with Rick McIntosh. He considers Groves his daughter and was her legal guardian.
“We weren’t expecting it this fast, but when I found out when it was done, we were happy, we were just excited,” said McIntosh.
McIntosh said he will never forget that phone call.
“I still break up. The loss of a daughter,” said McIntosh.
McIntosh said Groves struggled with drugs in the past but had a strong support system.
“If she was out late, she usually said where she was at,” McIntosh said.
The address Groves sent to her friend the last time anyone heard from her turned out to be Wilson’s home.
“She was very loving. She was fun to be with, she had her ups and her downs. She helped other people,” said McIntosh
Wilson has a $35,000 bond.
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