Terryon Thomas, a 20-year-old influencer who built a following for notoriously plagiarizing comedic videos and making them his own, was charged for the death of 69-year-old Dr. William Nicholas Abraham, a therapist who was rumored to have worked with Thomas when he was younger.
Abraham’s body was found wrapped in a tarp along a highway in Tangipahoa Parish, Louisiana on Sunday, Sept. 29, 2024. According to the Tangipahoa Parish Sheriff’s Department, the perpetrator was seen driving Abraham’s stolen vehicle 60 miles from where the corpse was found, in Baton Rouge on Sept. 30. Witnesses noted that shortly after, the driver had unexpectedly crashed the car and quickly fled from the scene.
Police immediately issued a response by providing photos of the person of interest: A black man described to be thin and tall, with short black hair and wearing a long-sleeve black shirt and khaki shorts. While authorities originally had no idea who this man was, social media had other ideas.
A certain TikTok creator with 4 million followers, dubbed “Mr. Prada,” became the center of a social media frenzy as soon as the suspect photos reached the public. Videos after videos addressing the compelling similarities between Mr. Prada and the perpetrator were made on various platforms spanning from X (formerly known as “Twitter”) to Instagram, garnering millions of views. What were meant to be silly allegations became reality on Tuesday, Oct. 1.
Thomas—or Mr. Prada—was arrested in connection to Abraham’s murder and unauthorized use of a motor vehicle. While he was originally charged with second-degree murder, it was later upgraded to first-degree murder in accordance with Louisiana’s law about “inflicting bodily harm upon a victim who is under the age of twelve or sixty-five years of age or older.”
Thousands of social media users flooded feeds theorizing the possible relationship between Thomas and Abraham. Considering Thomas had recently posted concerning videos of himself altering his appearances drastically, such as shaving his eyebrows, fans believe there to be more to the story that needs to be uncovered. Allegations of child molestation arose due to accusations of Abraham molesting a little boy in 2015. According to several creators, Abraham had sexually assaulted 11-year-old Thomas.
While much of the information “released” on social media continues to remain rumors, the face of Mr. Prada is now associated with a murder. Not only had it created uproar, it also raised questions of morality.
