TANGIPAHOA PARISH, La. — On Sunday, Tangipahoa Sheriff's Office responded to a call from the Village of Tangipahoa Police Department about a possible dead man on the side of the highway.
When deputies arrived just after 8 a.m., they found the man wrapped in a tarp next to Highway 51 between the Village of Tangipahoa and Fluker, according to authorities.
After an autopsy, the man was identified as 69-year-old William Nicholas Abraham of Baton Rouge. According to the TPSO, the preliminary cause of death is homicide, and the manner of death is blunt force trauma.
Abraham is a well-known therapist.
Sticker describes the area of northern Tangipahoa as quiet and rural.
“We’re working from the death scene, outward, to determine where this crime originally occurred at," Sticker said, “It was sometime over last night that it was discarded at that location.”
Sticker could not give the age of the victim on Sunday afternoon but said he was an 'elderly' white male who is not a resident of Tangipahoa Parish.
“There was a lot of physical trauma and so this individual was bludgeoned," Sticker said, "It was a very violent crime, but as to motive, or suspects, or multiple suspects, we are working to determine that at this time.”
“It’s just tragic. Our residents on the north end of the parish, I could imagine they’re shaken by it, as am I. It’s very disheartening," Sticker said.
In 2015, Abraham was accused of inappropriately touching an eleven-year-old boy during a therapy session.
WWL Louisiana called East Baton Rouge’s District Attorney’s office to find out what came of the 2015 molestation accusation, but have yet to hear back from them.
Currently, the sheriff’s office says their focus is finding out where the murder happened.
“Right now we have no inclination as to where this originated. We are exercising all of our avenues, whether it's cell phone data or license plate recognition,” Sticker said.
On Monday evening, the Tangipahoa Parish Sheriff's Office released images of an individual detectives say was the last person seen driving the victim's vehicle in Baton Rouge.
According to TPSO detectives, Abraham's vehicle was found in Baton Rouge on Monday afternoon. The driver, who is the person of interest shown in the surveillance camera screenshots below, sped away from a traffic stop and ultimately fled after crashing the car.
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Sheriff Gerald Sticker encourages anyone with information about the person seen in these pictures to contact the Criminal Investigations Office at 985-902-2008.
To remain anonymous, you can call Crimestoppers of Tangipahoa at 1-800-888-5245.
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