Fort Worth man faces Wise County murder charge in girlfriend’s slaying

A man accused of striking his girlfriend in the head, cutting her throat and burying her body in rural Wise County faces a murder charge, authorities said Wednesday.

Jake Charles Abel, 28, of Fort Worth could also be charged with tampering with a corpse, a second-degree felony, Wise County Chief Deputy Kevin Benton said.

Abel was in the Wise County Jail Wednesday with bail set at a total of $1 million, Benton said.

The body of Soccorro Taylor, 43, was found about 4:30 p.m. Saturday in a grave in a wooded area off County Road 4680 near Boyd.

“We’ve come up with a great deal of physical evidence that ties him back to her and her body,” Benton said.

Benton said Taylor was killed Dec. 21 in southeast Fort Worth, likely inside an RV camper where she had been living with Abel in the 5400 block of Sun Valley Drive.

Investigators believe Abel took her body to Wise County in a 1990 Ford pickup.

Abel was identified as a person of interest Saturday when he was arrested at his mother’s home in Decatur on an unrelated outstanding warrant.

Fort Worth police searched Abel’s Fort Worth home Sunday. Both the RV and the truck were impounded.

In 2012, Abel was sentenced to five years in state prison for causing bodily injury to a child, according to Tarrant County records.

Public records show Taylor lived in Arlington until 2013.

This story was originally published December 30, 2015 at 1:03 PM with the headline "Fort Worth man faces Wise County murder charge in girlfriend’s slaying."