Man accused of ditching body as friend bled out
Police have arrested a man accused of dumping his drinking pal, who was bleeding out from a gunshot wound, in an east Houston industrial area, according to court documents.
Walter Aguilar was charged Friday with tampering with evidence, in this case a corpse, in the death of an unidentified man found about a week ago in the 2300 block of Pearl. A 911 call led police to the man’s body in a patch of grass, with surveillance footage showing that he had been lying there for at least two hours.
The video purportedly shows that 28-year-old Aguilar dragged the man out of his car, leaving him in the grass, prosecutors stated in court records.
The charging document, which does not identify the victim, does not accuse Aguilar of killing that man.
Once apprehended Friday on an unspecified federal warrant, Aguilar revealed to investigators that he and the man had been drinking at a bar. The friend left the bar unexpectedly and Aguilar went looking for him, he said.
He found the friend arguing with a man and woman and claimed that the other man pulled out a gun and shot his friend, according to court documents.
The friend managed to get into Aguilar’s car and pleaded for him “to call the police and ambulance for help.” He did not because he could not find his phone, records continued. The friend asked to be dropped off and instructed Aguilar to find help.
Aguilar said he was drunk and that he went home instead. Police found a charged phone on the friend’s body.
Aguilar remains in custody at the Harris County Jail on a $100,000 bond. He is expected on Monday to appear in the 184th District Court.
Prior to his arrest, Aguilar pleaded guilty in 2021 to a misdemeanor deadly conduct charge — which prosecutors reduced from an aggravated assault with a deadly weapon charge in exchange for the plea — for an incident in which he tried setting an acquaintance’s apartment on fire. Aguilar then tried stabbing him with a pocket knife, according to court documents.
The acquaintance believed Aguilar to be intoxicated and noted to authorities that he is “known within the neighborhood for causing trouble.”
Aguilar was sentenced to one year in the Harris County Jail following the plea. Court records show Aguilar is a citizen of Honduras and that the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has deported him in the past. Following his latest arrest, the federal agency placed an immigration hold on him should he be freed.