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Two Teens Charged With Evidence Tampering After Lake Ray Hubbard Drowning

The family rejects the medical examiner’s accidental-drowning finding and has hired high-profile lawyers to press prosecutors for a grand jury review.

Overview

  • Daniel Erving, 18, disappeared April 13 after leaving his Rowlett home to go to Lake Ray Hubbard and his body was recovered from the lake four days later.
  • Dallas police obtained arrest warrants and on July 9 charged 19-year-old Lucas Roper and a 17-year-old juvenile with tampering with physical evidence, a third-degree felony.
  • An arrest affidavit alleges the three jumped from a railroad bridge, Erving drowned, and the other two fled the scene, discarded his clothes and phone, and Roper deleted messages from his phone.
  • The Dallas County Medical Examiner ruled the cause of death drowning and the manner accidental, a finding the family publicly disputes and says does not fit the alleged concealment described in the affidavit.
  • Erving’s family has hired independent investigators and added civil-rights lawyer Ben Crump to the legal team as they demand prosecutors present the case to a grand jury and seek further charges.