Hired to Move Furniture, Houston Man Finds Box Containing Body of Missing Hispanic Contractor

A Houston man is facing a murder charge after allegedly trying to dispose of a body by stuffing it into a box and enlisting a man to help move it. The discovery was made Friday morning in the Briarchase neighborhood, according to Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez.

The suspect, 36-year-old Steven Eberly, had reportedly hired a man to help him move furniture. Once the man started helping carry boxes, the "move" took a grim turn. Inside one of the containers was a human body.

Realizing what he had stumbled into, the witness jumped into a truck, believed to belong to the victim, and tried to escape. According to investigators, Eberly leapt into the bed of the truck as it pulled away and started smashing windows in a desperate attempt to stop the man from fleeing.

Eberly's attempt to stop the witness ended in a crash with another vehicle. Eberly fled the scene on foot, but not for long. Deputies later tracked him down at a separate location on FM 1960 after a 911 caller reported seeing a suspicious person bleeding in that area. Authorities transported him to a hospital for treatment before booking him into the Harris County Jail. He's now charged with murder.

Authorities believe the body found in the box belonged to Luis Silva Mendez, a contractor who had been working on a home improvement project inside the house. Sheriff Gonzalez said that an "incident" had occurred between Eberly and the contractor, which ultimately led to the contractor's death. The exact details of that confrontation remain unclear.

The official cause and manner of death are also still being determined.

At the scene on Friday, KPRC 2 News observed a woman being released by deputies. She identified herself as the homeowner and said she had no idea what had happened while she was away at work. Her boyfriend, however, had been home at the time, and the contractor had reportedly been hired to remodel a bathroom.