Woman found buried; man held
Suspect was seen with container
The large stroller holding a blue storage container that a man pushed out of a Tamarac hotel room contained the lifeless body of a Fort Lauderdale woman who, investigators say, arrived at the hotel for a sexual encounter.
The man pushing the stroller, Tyquan Pearson, 25, was arrested in Virginia this week and accused in the killing of Brittney Taylor, 19, the Broward Sheriff’s Office said Friday.
Taylor was last seen alive May 25 when she was dropped off at the Comfort Suites hotel, 8301 W. Commercial Blvd. in Tamarac, after Pearson had solicited her online for sex, investigators said.
Police say Pearson was living at the hotel.
Family members eventually reported Taylor missing, although the Broward Sheriff’s Office did not say when. However, detectives say surveillance video shows Taylor arriving at the hotel and going into Room 331. The date of the surveillance video was not disclosed.
About four hours later, Pearson is seen leaving the hotel room, pushing the stroller with the blue container that held Taylor’s body, the sheriff’s office said. He was accompanied by his unsuspecting girlfriend,
who had come to pick him up fromthe hotel.
According to detectives, he told her the container was full of clothing and other items that he needed to take to a storage unit before giving them away.
Pearson told detectives that he had solicited Taylor for sex, but then got a call from his girlfriend, whowas heading to the hotel, the sheriff’s office said. Pearson said that before leaving the room, he told Taylor to wait until he was gone and then let herself out.
The investigation led detectives to a home in Fort Lauderdale, where they thought Pearson might be hiding evidence. In the backyard, detectives noticed a piece of blue plastic sticking out of the ground. Itwas the corner of the blue storage container; Taylor’s remains were inside, the sheriff’s office said.
The Broward Medical Examiner’s Office on Wednesday was unable to indicate the cause of death.
Members of Taylor’s family said she was a sweet young woman with plans to join the Army, WSVN-Ch. 7 reported.
“My baby didn’t need nothing, not nothing from nobody. She’s got family that would give to her,” her sobbing mother, Tracy Brown, told the station.
On Wednesday, Broward detectives, assisted by U.S. Marshals and the Norfolk Police Department, charged Pearson with one count of first-degree murder. He is awaiting extradition to Broward. The motive for the killing is unclear, the sheriff’s
office said.
Pearson served in the Virginia National Guard from April 2010 to January 2013, according to A.pom A. “Cotton” Puryear, the spokesman for the Virginia National Guard. He held the rank of private when he left the Guard, and his military occupational specialty was infantryman. His records do not indicate any federal active duty deployments.
The agency said itwould not release information “about the character of his service or the nature of his discharge,” Puryear said.
His friends said Pearson is a good man who helped collect food and toys for the poor and homeless. “He’s always been helpful,” said Andrew Greene. “We didn’t see it coming. He was always playful, smiling. I still don’t believe it. He was always happy, I’ve never see him unhappy. He has a fiancee, two kids. He seems like a family guy.”