Police say on the morning of January 2, a group of Boy Scouts discovered the nude body of a man in a ditch off Boudreaux Rd. and FM 2920 in northwest Harris County. A plastic bin with blood on it was also found nearby and tested for forensic evidence.
The body later was identified as Brooks Bierworth. His cause of death was blunt force trauma to the neck and head.
According to police, Bierworth was a user and dealer of methamphetamine and they say he met with up with a man at a bar at around 9pm January 1. Police interviewed that man who told them Bierworth left the bar, saying he was "going to meet the boss man." The man told investigators that he saw Bierworth get into a car with two men.
Police obtained the bar's surveillance video from that night and a witness identified Johnathon Edward Shillings as one of the two men who entered the bar with Bierworth and later were seen leaving the bar shortly after Bierworth.
Investigators say they interviewed the other man with Shillings who told them that Bierworth owed some money and that Shillings was going to take Bierworth to another location for a "beat down." The other man said he gave Shillings the plastic container and that he refused to participate in the attack.
Court documents state cell phone records of Shillings placed him in the cellular antenna range of the body dump site.
Police interviewed Shillings, who is in the Montgomery County Jail for an unrelated case, and they say he told them, "They set me up and forced me to help." Police allege that Shillings told them that the primary assailants were two other men.
Shillings is charged with murder. Bond has been set at $100,000.
