Questions about the mental fitness of a Baton Rouge TikTok star known to his millions of followers Mr. Prada prompted a judge to appoint two doctors to evaluate if he’s competent to stand trial.
The popular social media personality, whose real name is Terryon Ishmael Thomas, was indicted for first-degree murder and several other charges earlier this year in connection with the killing of William Nicholas Abraham, a well-known Baton Rouge mental health counselor.
Authorities found the 69-year-old man’s body wrapped in a tarp that was dumped along the side of La. Highway 51 in Tangipahoa Parish in September 2024. An autopsy revealed he died of blunt force trauma wounds.
Thomas, 21, has remained jailed without bond since his arrest last October. He stood inside a courtroom at the 19th Judicial District Courthouse on Wednesday and watched as his defense attorney petitioned for a mental health evaluation.
Stephen Sterling, the Baton Rouge attorney, told District Judge Fred Crifasi Thomas’ past grapplings with mental health issues prompted him to make the request.
“I’d like to start that process just to make sure that competency is not an issue in this case,” Sterling said.
Crifasi assigned Dr. Laura Brown, a Baton Rouge forensic psychologist, and New Orleans clinical psychiatrist Dr. Sarah Deland to evaluate Thomas. He set a Jan. 28 sanity hearing for the court to review their reports.
Thomas faces a mandatory life sentence if he’s convicted of first-degree murder. State prosecutors have shown no indications that they plan to seek the death penalty on the capital murder offense.
Thomas was also indicted on charges of obstruction of justice, aggravated criminal damage to property and unauthorized use of a vehicle in connection with Abraham’s death.
The homicide occurred Sept. 28, 2024, according to an East Baton Rouge Sheriff’s Office arrest affidavit.
A witness saw Thomas dragging a blue tarp down the steps of his apartment and struggling to load it in the victim’s Lincoln MKZ. Inside the apartment, deputies found a bloody scene with signs of a violent struggle and several sharp-edged and blunt objects that appeared to have been used during the alleged attack. There was blood evidence that matched to Abraham’s DNA inside the residence, according to the report. There were signs that efforts were made to clean the bloody apartment and remove other evidence, the warrant stated.
Tangipahoa Parish deputies recovered Abraham’s body the morning after, rolled up and duct-taped in a gray comforter that was wrapped inside a blue tarp and dumped along the highway.
Thomas came onto investigators’ radar after he was spotted exiting Abraham’s car at the Juban Crossing shopping center in Denham Springs after the man was found dead. Baton Rouge officers spotted the car near Sherwood Forest and Coursey boulevards the afternoon of Sept. 30.
When officers tried to stop the vehicle, Thomas backed the car into their cruiser and then fled the scene, crashing in the 4300 block of Sherwood Forest Boulevard, police said. He fled on foot and escaped, but police in Dallas County, Texas, captured him one day later on the warrant from the Baton Rouge chase.
After Thomas was extradited from Texas, authorities upgraded his charge from second-degree murder to the first-degree offense because Abraham was older than 65, deputies noted in their reports.
Deputies said there was no evidence that Abraham was treating Thomas at the time of his death. The nature of their relationship has yet to be revealed, and prosecutors have not offered details on an alleged motive for the killing.