Real estate agent finds dumped body while showing client a beach home, Texas cops say

A real estate agent was showing a Texas home to her client when she made a grisly discovery: the body of a man who’d been shot and killed.

The real estate agent was showing the beachside property in Chambers County on the southeast coast of Texas when she found the body Friday, the Houston Chronicle reported. The man was later identified as 58-year-old Ralph Lee Machala, the owner of a popular bar in Crosby, according to the Sheriff’s Office.

Machala had been shot once, and it looked as if his body was dumped at the home, police said. It also appeared that Machala had been shot within the previous several days — while Tropical Depression Imelda was dumping rain on the southeast Texas region, police said.

His body was flown to Beaumont because flooding had shut down roads during the storm. Family members and medical examiners identified Machala on Monday, police said.

Sheriff Brian Hawthorne said investigators have “numerous leads” and interviews to be conducted.

Machala owned Pooky’s Tavern. The bar announced Sunday that it was closed until further notice, according to a Facebook post.

This story was originally published September 24, 2019 at 4:49 PM.