Tweet made from slain student's account day after her dismembered remains found
GRAPEVINE, Texas — The day after a North Texas college student was found dismembered and burned, someone made a post to her Twitter account, reports CBS affiliate KHOU.
Charles Dean Bryant, 30, has been charged with capital murder in the death of 24-year-old Jacqueline Vandagriff. Her body was found in a park Sept. 14 after firefighters extinguished a fire.
A day after her body was found, a post appeared on her Twitter account, reading: “Never knew I could feel like this.”
Grapevine police said they are aware of the tweet and are investigating.
According to an arrest warrant, Vandagriff is seen on a security video meeting Bryant at a bar in Denton, where she attended Texas Woman’s University, the night before her body was found. They are later seen going to another bar, then leaving together at about 9:45 p.m.
Grapevine police Sgt. Robert Eberling has said that it’s not known if the two knew each other before meeting at the bar.
Cell phone data indicates that early on the morning of Sept. 14, Vandagriff’s phone was in the vicinity of Bryant’s home in Haslet, about 25 miles southwest of Denton, according to the arrest warrant. Video evidence showed Bryant buying a shovel at 4:41 a.m. at a Wal-Mart, and there was evidence at his home that someone had tried to dig a hole in the ground.
Officials responding to a fire about 6:30 a.m. found Vandagriff’s body in a plastic kiddie pool in a park in Grapevine, located about 20 miles from Haslet. The arrest warrant says a witness saw a man standing over the fire before leaving.
Police on Sunday arrested Bryant, and he was later charged with capital murder. It was not immediately clear if he had an attorney.
According to the arrest warrant, officials executing a search warrant at Bryant’s home found Vandagriff’s purse in the trash. The document also said the search found a kiddie pool in the backyard that looked similar to the one found with Vandagriff’s burning body in it, and saw a patch of dead grass where it appeared a similar pool had been. Bryant’s roommate told police that there had recently been two kiddie pools in the backyard.
Vandagriff’s cause of death has not yet been released.
Texas Woman’s University said in a statement that that Vandagriff was a nutrition student there.
Eberling said Bryant had worked at the Urban Cowboy Saloon in Fort Worth. The gay dance club said on its Facebook page that he was fired on Sunday for not showing up for his shift.
Bryant is being held on $1 million bond. Records show he had been arrested and released from jail just days before he was seen with Vandagriff.
In the previous incident, he was charged with criminal trespass and released the same day. A day later he was arrested on a stalking charge and posted bond Sept. 9, four days before he and Vandagriff were at the bar.
He was the subject of a protective order following complaints of stalking and harassment by a former girlfriend, court records show.