Inset: Steven Eberly (Harris County Sheriff). Background: Home in Houston, Texas, where Eberly killed a contractor working on renovations (KPRC).
In Texas, a man was arrested for allegedly killing a contractor hired to work on a house. The suspect then placed the victim’s body in a box and paid someone to move it.
“This was a strange one,” Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez said in a post on X, formerly Twitter.
Police were called to a home in Houston after reports of a hit-and-run. The driver involved in the incident fled the scene but later told authorities that he had seen a dead body at the house. The driver revealed that a man, later identified as Steven Eberly, had paid him to assist in moving items from the residence.
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When he went to Eberly’s home to complete the work, he found a body in one of those boxes, Gonzalez said.
Eberly tried to escape in his truck, with the helper in the back trying to enter the vehicle. During the attempt to flee, Eberly fell off the truck as it crashed. He was apprehended by law enforcement soon after.
This was a strange one: on Friday, 5/16/25, at abt 11am, @HCSOTexas patrol units responded to multiple calls in the vicinity of the 4000 blk of Tim Allen Ct. Initial calls were reporting a vehicle crash where the striking vehicle had fled the scene.
Also being recv’d, was a… pic.twitter.com/0c8ySFNftG
— Ed Gonzalez (@SheriffEd_HCSO) May 18, 2025
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Detectives determined the contractor had been working on home renovations. Local NBC affiliate KPRC interviewed Eberly’s girlfriend who also lived in the home in question. She said the contractor had been working on a bathroom renovation. The girlfriend told the TV station she was at work when the incident occurred.
Court records identified the victim as Luis Silva-Mendez. After taking Eberly to the hospital for the injuries in the crash, cops took him to the Harris County Jail where he remains without bond. In addition to murder, the defendant stands accused of tampering with evidence. He allegedly tried to conceal the murder weapon and a cell phone “with intent to impair its availability as evidence in the investigation,” a complaint said.
Deputies have yet to reveal a motive for the homicide. Eberly has a court hearing scheduled for Monday.
