February 11, 2021
Thom Carroll/for PhillyVoice
A body was found inside a U-Haul truck on the 1000 block of Sanibel Street in Northeast Philadelphia on Feb. 11, 2021.
Update, Feb. 15: Taray Herring, 47, was charged Saturday with abuse of corpse, evidence tampering, burglary and related offenses as part of an ongoing investigation into the discovery of a body in the back of a U-Haul truck, court documents show.
Herring was the passenger of a U-Haul stopped by police responding to a call of a burglary in progress on the 1000 block of Sanibel Street. Both the driver and the passenger were taken into custody.
Police identified Herring as the passenger, according to the Inquirer. The driver has not been charged.
Investigators found additional human remains in a dumpster behind a Wawa at Kelvin Street and Bustleton Avenue. Other body parts reportedly were found in additional dumpsters at a property on Sanibel Street.
The property where the burglary was reported belongs to Peter Gerold, a massage therapist. Someone from another state asked police to check on Gerold last Wednesday after not hearing from him in "some time," the Inquirer reported.
Herring has a long criminal history and is a registered sex offender in Pennsylvania stemming from a 2013 case in which he was charged with stalking, indecent assault and harassment. He was last arrested in May on burglary and theft charges, but was released on unsecured bail. That case remains active.
Herring currently is being held without bail. He is being represented by the Defender Association of Philadelphia, according to court records.
Philadelphia police took the driver and passenger of a U-Haul truck into custody after they discovered a body inside the rental vehicle Thursday morning.
Police stopped the rental truck on the 1000 block of Sanibel Street in Northeast Philly around 9 a.m.
Investigators found the body stuffed inside a trash bag inside the vehicle, police said. A weapon also was recovered from the truck.
No charges have been announced at this time. The identity of the victim has not yet been released.
An investigation into the incident remains ongoing.
