A driver was arrested after asking Iowa troopers to help start his car — because they found a bullet-riddled body tucked under a pile of clothes in his passenger seat, according to charging documents.
The driver of the vehicle, Jihad Gasaway, 23, was arrested Tuesday on charges of manslaughter and abuse of a corpse in the death of 26-year-old Kemp Harriel, according to a statement from the Iowa Department of Public Safety.
He was first spotted by the Iowa State Patrol just after 8 a.m. in his Chevrolet Malibu stranded on the shoulder of Interstate 80 in Poweshiek County.
“He advised that his vehicle had stalled and required a quick start,” two responding troopers wrote in the affidavit.
After calling for help, Gasaway allegedly told officers he had a Taurus 9mm handgun in his pocket — leading to a search and gruesome discovery in the passenger seat, the affidavit said.
“Harriel’s body was hidden under clothing and appeared to have gunshot wounds,” the official said.
Jihad Gasaway, 23, faces charges of murder and abuse of a corpse. Poweshiek County Sheriff’s Office
An autopsy later found Harriel died of two gunshot wounds to the chest fired from a Taurus handgun, and the manner of death was ruled a homicide by the medical examiner.
During a police interview, Gasaway allegedly said he and Harriel “hit it off” while traveling together from Cedar Rapids to Des Moines — but claimed he didn’t know his passenger had died.
He said he had protected Harriel because he “thought she was very cold” — and “didn’t know [he] was gone” until he “watched the policeman’s eyes and read his lips,” the affidavit said.
The Iowa State Patrol found the bullet-riddled body of a man in the passenger seat of Gasaway’s car that was stopped on Interstate 80.KCCI
“‘That’s when I started crying in the car,'” the affidavit quotes Gasaway as telling police.
Gasaway is being held in the county jail on $50,000 bond. The next court hearing is set for October 12.
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
