Texas Couple Accused of Strangling Woman With Bungee Cord While She Drove, Then Burning Body

A Texas couple is accused of strangling a woman with a bungee cord while she was driving before setting her body on fire and dumping it in a wooded area.

Carlton Lamar Grant, 37, and his girlfriend Lindsey Jo McFadden, 29, are accused in the April 1 death of Rachel Rhoads, 24.

Both were arraigned Tuesday on capital murder charges after being arrested last week, Upshur County Sheriff Larry Webb tells PEOPLE.

Neither has entered a plea yet, says Webb. PEOPLE was unable to obtain information about their attorneys.

Rhoads, 24, was reported missing on March 31. Her severely burned body was found the following day in a wooded area in Upshur County, according to a search warrant affidavit obtained by the Longview News-Journal.

According to the affidavit, McFadden and Rhoads had attended drug rehab classes together.

In an interview with police, McFadden allegedly told detectives that she and Grant went to Rhoads’ house on March 29, and the three of them drove off together in Rhoads’ car.

McFadden told police that Grant “reached from the back-seat area and placed a bungee cord around the victim’s neck as she was driving and demanded that [McFadden] take the wheel,” the affidavit states.

From left: Carlton Grant, Lindsey McFadden
From left: Carlton Grant, Lindsey McFadden

From left: Carlton Grant, Lindsey McFadden

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According to the affidavit, McFadden added that Rhoads was then put in the back seat, where Grant choked her using a zip tie.

McFadden said the couple put Rhoads’ body in the trunk and then drove around to “random places,” the affidavit alleges.

The affidavit alleges that the couple set Rhoads’ body on fire and dumped it near a gas pipeline right of way in Upshur County.

After Rhoads’ death was determined to be a homicide, police arrested the couple at an apartment complex in Fort Worth.