A gruesome story is unfolding in Pearland, Texas, south of Houston, ABC13 reports:
"Authorities now say that Joshua Wilkerson, 18 (above left), was beaten with a large wooden rod and that his body was burned. Hermilio Moralez, 19 (right), is charged with murder in Wilkerson's death. According to court documents, Wilkerson gave Moralez a ride home from school Tuesday and Moralez stated that Wilkerson began to make sexual advances towards him. Moralez said they got out of the truck and began to fight when Wilkerson grabbed a large wooden rod and tried to hit him. Moralez said he took the piece of wood from Wilkerson and began to hit him with it. He said Wilkerson was not moving afterwards."
Moralez also apparently tried to take a police officer's gun from its holster while he was leading authorities to the body. He has been "charged with failure to identify and attempting to take a weapon from a peace officer. His bond on those two charges are ,000 and ,000, respectively. No bond has been set for the murder charge."
Watch a brief news conference, AFTER THE JUMP…
