Nashville police: Man wrapped body in blankets, dragged it to culvert

A Nashville man is facing several charges after he was seen dragging a body wrapped in blankets and a shower curtain from his apartment to a nearby rain culvert.

Dominic Collier, 38, was charged with abuse of a corpse, evidence tampering and failure to report the discovery of a dead body.

Nashville police were called by a maintenance man and property manager to an apartment complex in the 800 block of Glastonbury Road Wednesday.

According to an arrest affidavit, the maintenance man witnessed Collier "dragging what appeared to be a body wrapped in blankets down the stairs" from the third to the second floor landing. The employee called his supervisor, who told him to tell the property manager.

After the maintenance man notified the property manager, she went back to her office to review surveillance footage while the other employee went to find out where Collier went, the arrest affidavit said.

Security footage showed Collier walking down a hill from the complex, the affidavit said. A resident then flagged down the two employees and said he saw a man push something large into a rain culvert near the apartments. The maintenance man and his supervisor went to the culvert and found a man's body, according to the affidavit.

The medical examiner's office was able to recover the body, which was wrapped in two blankets, a shower curtain and duct tape. The body also had a white garbage bag around its head with a camouflage backpack over top, the affidavit said.

Police took a photo from the security footage to the leasing office to confirm Collier's identity before knocking on his door. Collier had changed by the time police arrived, but his clothes remained draped over a chair in the dining room, the affidavit said.

Collier was taken to police headquarters but refused to speak with detectives, the affidavit said.

The identity of the victim has yet to be announced, and the cause of death is pending an autopsy.