Squalid building, lot yield 3 bodies
The crime scene at the abandoned and graffiti-stained warehouse and surrounding lot in northwest Houston was strewn with pine cones and trash, along with, police said, the remains of at least three people, including one beaten to death by a hammer and another possibly burned.
Investigators Wednesday were combing the scene at Todd Road, near Antoine, which was ringed by high weeds and a chain-link fence. The compound, across the street from railroad tracks, has long been known in the area as a place that attracts homeless squatters.
A 27-year-old fugitive known to live in the warehouse, and who has a violent criminal record, was charged with capital murder in the deaths. Jamie Lee Walter is now in the Harris County Jail without bail.
Patrol officers first learned about the bodies Tuesday night, when they were called to a disturbance a block away, which involved Walter and his girlfriend.
“It was a boyfriend-girlfriend disturbance at the intersection over here,” homicide Detective
Eric Wohlgemuth said. “They just started talking and told patrol officers they knew about some bodies.” The woman was detained, and no further information was released about her.
Some remains were found inside the warehouse, and some were outside, according to the detective.
At least some bones were burned, according to police. It is unclear who owns the warehouse, but police described it as “abandoned.”
The victims included 56-year-old Monty Kaiser, whom authorities said Walter beat to death with a hammer on April 6, according to an affidavit filed in state district court. Kaiser has several prior arrests, most recently for public intoxication.
Medical examiners are trying to identify other skeletal remains as well as determine how the victims died.
“Right now we just don’t have a whole lot of information,” said Tricia Bentley, spokeswoman for the Harris County Institute of Forensic Sciences. “In coming days, we should know more.”
Police have not yet said why they believe Walter went after his alleged victims, but they said he knew them as part of the world of people living on the homeless fringes of society.
In his booking shot on the capital murder charge, Walter has a large cross tattooed across his throat with the word’s “God’s Soldier.” When he was arrested, he was wanted in another case, one in which he is accused of smashing his girlfriend’s skull with a hammer and slashing her with a machete in July. The attack followed an argument at the same warehouse, and officials said one of the weapons was the same hammer that was used to kill Kaiser. In the July incident, she told police she stumbled away from Walter after he fell asleep to call 911.
Before that, Walter was convicted of attacking a Harris County man with a pipe. He was released from prison last year after serving two years for that assault.
Back in northwest Houston, word that bodies had been found startled some people who work in the industrial slice of the city.
Ana Hammad, who recognized Walter’s mug shot when she was shown it by a reporter, said she had seen him and his girlfriend walking around the area numerous times.
She recalled that she was puzzled early last week when she saw they were no longer on foot but had a green Jeep that was parked early in the morning by the shop where she works.
“You know you can look at people and know they are not comfortable with you being there,” Hammad said, noting that shortly after she arrived the couple drove away.
Although Walter never said anything to Hammad or gave her any trouble, she said allegations that he is a murderer are startling.
“I’m scared,” she said. “I saw a killer.”