A 24-year-old Nigerian, Alex Jude Akpan, has been arrested by authorities in the US after the remains of a woman were found stashed in his bedroom.
Akpan has been charged with tampering with evidence of a human corpse.
According to reports, the woman, who has been identified as a 21-year-old fellow Nigerian named Titi, was discovered in a recycling bin.
Akpan’s mother was said to have discovered Titi’s remains at the home in the 9600 block of Wellsworth Drive, near Bissonnet and Eldridge Parkway west of the Alief area, according to court records.
Akpan was arrested around 7 p.m. Thursday.
“He came back from somewhere and one of the sheriff’s asked him, ‘Are you Alex,’” said Brandon Nguyen, who lived in the neighbouring duplex with Akpan.
“He said, ‘Yeah,’ and they told him to put his hands up.”
A $10,000 bond was set for Akpan, who is scheduled to be arraigned on Oct. 8.
Harris County Assistant District Attorney John Denholm demanded a stiffer bond of $100,000, citing the belief of detectives that the woman died of foul play. The motion was rejected.
Akpan could face a murder charge, Denholm noted in court records, depending on the results of the autopsy.
She was described by the Harris County Institute for Forensic Sciences as a young, black woman about 5 feet, 6 inches tall and 162 pounds with medium-length, black hair. She was wearing large, yellow hoop earrings in one ear, olive green pants and a black and white striped jersey emblazoned with a “NYC Classic” logo.