SAN ANGELO, Texas (Concho Valley Homepage) — Two individuals have been indicted for crimes related to a murder that resulted in a grass fire after the pair allegedly moved the body to a different county and attempted to burn it.
Kenneth Lamar Harvey has been indicted for murder and tampering with evidence, according to the State of Texas’ indictment report. The report also states that Harvey “intentionally and knowingly” caused the death of Eric Talton by striking him with his “hand and foot.”
Meanwhile, Brittany Schoonmaker has been indicted for tampering with evidence with intent to impair a human corpse, according to a separate indictment report. The report states that Schoonmaker attempted to alter and destroy Talton’s corpse “with intent to impair its availability as evidence” while “knowing that an offense had been committed, namely Aggravated Assault.”
The indictments stem from an investigation that began as a missing persons investigation for Talton on Aug. 24, 2022. According to records filed by Tom Green County, detectives learned from Ramona Talton that Eric Talton had been murdered by two individuals identified as Harvey and Schoonmaker and that his body was taken by the pair to San Antonio to be disposed of.
Detectives spoke with a Texas Ranger later that same day after the Ranger responded to a murder investigation related to a body that had been discovered in a grass fire on U.S. Highway 83 South, located near Junction, at around 4:35 a.m. on Aug. 18, 2022. Fingerprints from the body were used to identify it as Eric Talton.
Investigators learned from speaking with one witness that Harvey had gone to a residence on West 15th Street for a short time on Aug. 16, 2022, before returning that afternoon. At the residence, Harvey allegedly pushed Talton into the house before proceeding to strike him multiple times. Records stated that Talton was beaten unconscious before being thrown into a bathtub, where he was still unconscious but moaning. The witness also stated that she left the residence and came back the following morning, where she saw Talton lying in a fetal position in the hallway and not moving.
A search warrant executed on the residence on Nov. 16, 2022, revealed blood spatter on the wall above the bathroom. The blood was identified as Talton’s.
