By Daily Mail (U.S.) | Created at 2024-10-03 14:03:17 | Updated at 2024-10-18 08:36:21
2 weeks ago
A therapist who linked to TikTok star 'Mr. Prada' was once accused of molesting a young boy.
Dr. William 'Nick' Abraham, 69, who was found beaten to death on Sunday, had been accused of inappropriately touching an 11-year-old boy in 2015 during a counseling session.
Mr. Prada, whose legal name is Terryon Ishmael Thomas, was not the boy Abraham allegedly molested in 2015, said defense attorney Jarrett Ambeau, who represented the therapist then, according to WAFB.
'It’s unequivocally not him,' the lawyer said.
Thomas was apprehended by police on Tuesday in Dallas, Texas, days after Abraham was found dead on the side of the road. The TikTok personality - a person of interest in the case - has not been charged with Abraham's death, but is expected to be extradited to Louisiana.
Dr. William 'Nick' Abraham, 69, (pictured) who was found beaten to death on Sunday, had been accused of inappropriately touching an 11-year-old boy in 2015 during a counseling session in 2015. The case never went to trial but he was booked into jail
Mr. Prada, whose legal name is Terryon Ishmael Thomas, was not the boy Abrahams allegedly molested in 2015, defense attorney, Jarrett Ambeau, who represented the therapist then, said. Thomas is a person of interest in the death of Abraham
Abraham was arrested nine years ago and booked into the East Baton Rouge Parish Prison. He was released on a $25,000 bond and his case did not go to trial, according to WAFB.
His case was dismissed after two years due to lack of evidence and in the best interest of the victim, District Attorney Hillar Moore told WAFB.
'After considering all available evidence, the best interest of the child, and the lack of any inculpatory statements by the arrestee, we declined to institute formal charges,' he said.
Ambeau called the therapist a 'sweet man' with a 'very gentle soul,' and said he was 'absolutely blown away' when he heard the man was found dead on the side of the highway wrapped in a tarp, he told BR Proud.
The lawyer also said Abraham was openly gay and speculated the therapist was involved in 'some kind of intimate interests.' He also speculated the man's death could be a 'hate crime' and 'somebody set him up to hurt him,' he told the outlet.
Thomas was arrested earlier this week after he was spotted driving Abraham's vehicle before he managed to flee the scene.
Thomas was apprehended by police on Tuesday in Dallas, Texas , but has not been charged with Abraham's death. He is expected to be extradited to Louisiana
The TikToker reportedly refused to obey as an officer attempted to conduct a traffic stop - and instead backed into the police vehicle and fled on foot while officers recovered the victim's vehicle.
Thomas was later captured on a nearby store's surveillance cameras, which police released Monday night as he remained on the loose then.
Police found Abraham's body wrapped in a tarp with blunt force trauma wounds on a highway just outside of Baton Rouge. No weapons were found near the body, nor in his home.
'It was a very physical and very violent attack,' Tangipahoa Sheriff Gerald Sticker said of the therapist's death, according to WAFB.
'He was bludgeoned about in the head, shoulders and neck. There was a lot of bruising.'
A motive for the murder remains unclear.
The sheriff's office is now seeking 'any information that the public can give us to help us put the picture together of Saturday evening, before he was ultimately murdered - which we believe occurred sometime Saturday night,' Sticker said.
Prior to the murder, Thomas posted concerning clips online, including one where he claimed to be bipolar and one where he unevenly shaved his head.
Prior to the murder, Thomas posted concerning clips online. In one post from May, 2023, he wrote: 'Practicing for my mug shot cus this might be the year someone gonna meet God if they piss me off too much'
'Life is a prison, get me the f*** out,' Thomas said in a different clip to his more than four million followers.
When you've gone a little too long without getting in trouble and you feel a cannon event approaching,' Thomas wrote in April.
Recently, Thomas posted a concerning YouTube video titled 'What I do after a breakup,' where he's seen wearing smeared eyeliner and singing as he ripped his shirt off.
In one post from May, 2023, he wrote: 'Practicing for my mug shot cus this might be the year someone gonna meet God if they piss me off too much.'
Now, Abraham's friends and family are also demanding answers.
'I want to know who did it and I want to know why,' his brother, Tommy Abraham, told WBRZ.
'I watch the news every night and I just sit back there and cringe when I hear someone killed somebody,' he said. 'It's just not the way it's supposed to be.'
'No one should take a life but God. No one,' Tommy added to WWL. 'He's the only one that can take a life, and for someone to take someone else's life, you're a coward.'
He and his brother, Joseph, said Abraham had worked as a Catholic priest for 14 years, serving in Mississippi and Milwaukee, before ultimately becoming a therapist.
Abraham also doubled as a life coach, 'motivational speaker, recording artist, author, teacher and trailblazer,' according to his website, which notes that he had experience treating substance abuse, anxiety and depression and worked with the LGBTQ community.
'He made a mark on people's lives and helped them be better people,' Joseph said.
'He was kind, loving, a gentle man, and frankly, not the kind of man that something like this would've happened to,' added Abraham's attorney, Jarret Ambeau.
'I'm absolutely devastated and completely surprised that something like that could've happened to a man who I believe to be so tender and so gentle and have such a service heart.'
