Donte Taylor, 40, faces charges of abuse of a corpse and tampering with evidence in the death of 22-year-old Elysia Kinsella in Chattanooga. Police say Taylor dragged the body down a staircase and ran it over with his car on July 8.
Chattanooga police responded to the Studio 6 Suites hotel on Patten Chapel Road shortly before 4:30 p.m. on July 8. They found Kinsella's body in the parking lot after she had been reported missing since June 26.
Surveillance video showed Taylor arriving in a Ford Crown Victoria, carrying a blanket-covered body down stairs, and attempting to load it into his trunk. When it did not fit, he backed over the remains and then drove forward over them again, according to an arrest affidavit.
Taylor was arrested later that day and is held in the Hamilton County Jail on a $265,000 bond. A judge expressed concern after learning a family member planned to pay the bond.
Kinsella's mother criticized the plan to post bond. An autopsy is pending to determine the cause of death. Taylor is scheduled to appear in court on August 11.