Man Charged With Murder At South Austin Homeless Camp

SOUTH AUSTIN, TEXAS — A man has been charged with murder stemming from an incident at a homeless camp in the southeast part of the city last year, officials said.

The incident dates to August in a wooded area off the northbound lanes of the Interstate 35 frontage road south of William Cannon Drive. Police who were nearby responding to a traffic accident noticed smoke in a wooded area, leading them to the scene where they found the charred remains of Harold Maurice Parham, 66. Blood spatter found on nearby items led a medical examiner to determing Parham had died of blunt trauma rather than perishing in the fire.

According to court records referenced by CBS Austin, Richard Edwin Wroblewski, 35, was later identified as the person who started a fire earlier that day. Investigators later learned he was angry thinking someone had stolen his bicycle, the news station reported.

Wroblewski subsequently was arrested and charged with arson, a second-degree felony. He was also found to be in possession of Parham's debit card, according to the report. His clothes were later analyzed for DNA, yielding the finding of blood one of his socks that matched the victim's, according to the report.

Wroblewski was charged with murder in the first degree.

>>> Read the full story at CBS Austin

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