Two charged with abuse of corpse after missing woman’s dead body found inside car

Published 5:31 pm Tuesday, August 23, 2022

Two people were arrested Tuesday morning in connection with a woman’s body found inside of a vehicle earlier this month.

Walker County Sheriff’s Office deputies said Jordan Allen Lopez, 23, and Kayla Michelle Black, 27, both of Oakman, Alabama were arrested Tuesday during a traffic stop and charged with abuse of a corpse.

The pair were wanted in connection to the discovery of Cayla Michelle Garner’s dead body, found August 4 inside a vehicle off Dixie Springs Road.

Garner had been reported missing to the Tuscaloosa County Sheriff’s Office on August 4th and found three hours later, in Walker County, by a woman who stopped to show her grandson a pond in the area, deputies said.

The cause and manner of death are still pending autopsy and toxicology by the Alabama Department of Forensic Sciences, investigators said.

Abuse of Corpse, 13A-11-13 of the Code of Alabama, states in part; A person commits the crime of abuse of a corpse if, except as otherwise authorized by law, he knowingly treats a human corpse in a way that would outrage ordinary family sensibilities.
Abuse of Corpse is a Class C Felony.