Boyfriend of woman whose pantless body was found in Fort Worth field pleads guilty
A man who shot to death his girlfriend, whose body was found wearing no pants in an east Fort Worth field in December 2024, pleaded guilty on Monday to murder and was sentenced under a plea agreement with prosecutors to 50 years in prison.
A landscaping employee mowing a gated property owned by the City of Fort Worth Water Department discovered Taterea McGuire dead in the 2600 block of Greenbelt Road.
McGuire, who was 32, was on the ground in her undergarments, a shirt, socks and one shoe, according to a Fort Worth police account. A pair of gray camouflage pants were on the ground near her feet.
In 213th District Court in Tarrant County and adhering to a plea agreement that the Tarrant County Criminal District Attorney’s Office reached with LeDarren Tilley, Justice Lee Gabriel sentenced the defendant.
Had Tilley, 38, been found guilty of murder at trial as a repeat felony offender, a jury or judge would have assessed punishment at between 15 and 99 years, or life, in prison.
McGuire’s four children told a civilian working on behalf of detectives that their mother and Tilley had a history of domestic violence. Tilley carried a gun or had it in a vehicle he owned, the children said.
Tilley’s involvement in the death is clear, police said, because McGuire’s children indicated that Tilley was the last person seen with McGuire alive, the suspect’s statements to police are contradicted by video evidence, and he admitted being in control of the vehicle in which they left for the entire night before her body was found.
An arrest warrant affidavit prepared by Fort Worth Police Department Homicide Unit Detective Leah Dickerson suggests that the defendant denied killing McGuire in an interview with Dickerson and Detective Tom O’Brien.
Arlington police were investigating McGuire as a missing person after she was last seen by her family on Dec. 2.
McGuire’s mother wrote on a GoFundMe page that, “She was the sweetest person who would do anything for anyone.”
When McGuire was reported missing, her mother explained to police that her daughter and Tilley had been fighting and that she had been unable to contact McGuire.
