John Jefferson
Background: The Memphis, Tenn. impound lot where the body of Jaderius Webb was found (WMC). Inset (left): Tameria Clark (Shelby County Jail). Inset (right): Jaderius Webb (Horn Lake Police Department).
A Mississippi woman was charged with tampering with evidence, arson, and abuse of a corpse following an investigation into the discovery of a dead body inside a burned car at a Tennessee impound lot.
Tameria Clark, 20, was arrested on Dec. 17 after an investigation that spanned two states determined that she allegedly set fire to a vehicle near an intersection in Memphis. Police responded to a car fire during the early morning hours of July 20. It was days later, after the car was brought to an impound lot in Memphis, that employees realized there was a burned human body inside. The body was later identified as Jaderius Webb, 20, of Horn Lake, Mississippi. He was last seen alive on July 19.
Webb’s father had reported his son missing on July 20, and the investigation led Horn Lake police to a woman who, according to Memphis NBC affiliate WMC, was exchanging texts with the mother of Tameria Clark. The woman reportedly asked if Webb was safe, and Clark’s mother allegedly responded, “No.”
A search warrant was executed at Clark’s home on July 26. Webb’s father also confirmed to police that his son and Clark were planning to meet up with each other at some point. He provided police with Clark’s social media pages. While viewing Clark’s Facebook profile, police found a video from July 20 that featured Clark at a party. Three witnesses from that party who participated in the video stated that Clark had shown up late and was seen crying. According to an arrest affidavit obtained by WMC, Clark allegedly told her friends that she had done something that would “send her to jail.”
Clark also allegedly told witnesses that someone had been killed in her house in Horn Lake and that she was ordered to dispose of the body and chose to set fire to it.
Webb’s cause of death was not available, and no one else has been arrested in connection to his death, according to Memphis CBS affiliate WREG. His manner of death was ruled a homicide.
Since the fire took place in Memphis, Clark was arrested by Memphis police and booked into Shelby County Jail where she is being held on $500,000 bond. Her next court date is Dec. 19.
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