A Cedar Rapids man discovered Tuesday on the facet of Interstate 80 in Poweshiek County with a lifeless man in his automotive now has been charged with first-degree homicide.
Jihad Abdul Malik Gasaway, 23, was arrested Tuesday and charged with abuse of a corpse after two Iowa State Patrol troopers noticed him pulled over on the facet of the highway and, after they stopped to speak with him, discovered a lifeless man in his passenger seat, in response to felony complaints.
The lifeless man has been recognized as Kemp Xavier Sherrod Harriel, 26, of Cedar Rapids. An post-mortem revealed he died of two gunshot wounds to the chest, in response to the Iowa Division of Public Security.
In accordance with a division information launch, the troopers responded at 8:10 a.m. to a report of a stranded car on westbound I-80 close to mile marker 188, between Grinnell and Malcolm.
Troopers stated they discovered Gasaway making an attempt to restart his stalled silver 2010 Chevrolet Malibu. After initially speaking with Gasaway, the troopers detained him and retrieved a gun from him. The troopers searched the automotive and located Harriel slumped over the passenger seat and on the ground, hid beneath objects of clothes.
Harriel was pronounced lifeless the scene.
Throughout an interview with authorities, Gasaway stated he and Harriel left Cedar Rapids for Des Moines early that morning. Nobody else was with them. Gasaway informed officers he lined Harriel with clothes as a result of he thought he was chilly and was ready for the police, in response to a felony criticism.
Whereas sitting within the troopers’ automotive, Gasaway was heard on a recording saying, “Please be OK.” Later, throughout his police interview, he stated he didn’t know Harriel “was gone till I watched the police eyes and browse his lips. That’s once I began crying within the automotive. He was alive and speaking to me.”
When requested what occurred to Harriel, Gasaway informed officers that ‘we obtained into it.“ He additionally informed officers Harriel had been alive earlier that morning, when the automotive had been in a ditch elsewhere alongside I-80.
Investigators discovered a 9 mm shell casing on the ground within the automotive and two fired bullets contained in the entrance passenger door. The casing matched the gun that had been taken from Gasaway, a criticism stated.
“Primarily based on the defendant and sufferer being alone within the automotive, the defendant’s assertion that the sufferer was alive a short while earlier than they have been discovered collectively at mile marker 188, the defendant’s assertion that he and the sufferer ‘obtained into it,’ the defendant in possession of a handgun, the post-mortem report, the bullets and shell casing discovered within the automotive, Jihad Abdul Malik Gasaway is charged with the first-degree homicide of Kemp Xavier Sherrod Harriel,” the felony criticism reads.
Gasaway is being held within the Poweshiek County Jail on a $50,000 cash-only bail on the abuse of a corpse cost. He has not but had his first look on the homicide cost to find out what the bail on that cost can be.
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