Overview
- Dallas police arrested 19-year-old Lucas Roper on July 9 and booked him on a charge of tampering with physical evidence in connection with the April drowning of 18-year-old Daniel Erving.
- The arrest affidavit says Roper and an unnamed juvenile disposed of Erving’s clothes, deleted his call logs and texts, and ordered the juvenile to throw Erving’s phone from a moving vehicle.
- Investigators say Erving drowned after an April 13 outing at Lake Ray Hubbard and emergency teams recovered his body on April 17, four days after he disappeared.
- Erving’s family held a news conference on July 13, retained Daredia Law to conduct an independent inquiry, and urged prosecutors to seek homicide charges beyond the single tampering count.
- Dallas Police are leading the ongoing investigation, the juvenile companion has corroborated parts of the affidavit but remains unidentified because of his age, and it is unclear whether additional charges will be filed.