Police in Nashville have arrested a Chattanooga man they say drove a corpse, believed to be that of his mother, from Hamilton County to Nashville.
According to a release from Metro-Nashville Police, Homicide Unit detectives charged a Thomas Henshall Jr. of Chattanooga Saturday morning with failure to report the discovery of a dead body and evidence tampering after he admitted to driving a corpse across several county lines.
Police say the 37-year-old arrived at Nashville’s VA Medical Center at 5:15 p.m. Saturday with the body wrapped and/or rolled up in a tarp in the back of his truck.
Henshall told police that his mother had committed suicide and that he found her in a wooded area of Chattanooga.
The release goes on to say according to Henshall and his girlfriend, whom he picked up at 8:30 a.m. Saturday with the body already in the truck, they stopped for food, gas and coffee before driving to a VA medical facility in Chattanooga and saw that it was closed.
Police say the couple wound up driving to Nashville’s VA Medical Center, passing multiple hospitals and law enforcement facilities along the way.
Metro-Nashville Police say the evidence tampering charge stems from Henshall touching and concealing the victim’s body.
During an interview with MNPD Homicide Detective Madison Meiss, Henshall said that he was right next to his mother when she shot herself.
However, police report Henshall told his girlfriend that he had discovered the victim in the woods.
When Henshall was asked how his mother obtained a gun, police he invoked his Miranda rights and ended the interview.
The victim’s mother is identified as 60-year-old Danielle Bowen.
Positive identification of the body in the tarp will be made during an autopsy, according to police.
The Homicide Unit has provided information on this case to Chattanooga authorities and the TBI for investigative follow up in East Tennessee.
In the meantime, Henshall is jailed in Nashville in lieu of $80,000 bond.
Track crime in your area with the AlertNest Crime Map: