Man accused of murder, dumping body goes on trial
AUSTIN, Texas - A man accused of murdering another man and dumping his body is scheduled to go on trial next week.
Gavin Roberts is charged with the murder of Justin Haden and tampering with human remains. Roberts' trial is scheduled to start on Jan. 30, 2024.
Haden was last seen alive on Nov. 1, 2022. He lived in an apartment in the Domain.
MORE: Murder suspect reveals new details in stabbing death of Justin Haden: Affidavit
On Nov. 4, police did a welfare check. They didn't find anyone, but noted what they believed to be a wine stain next to the bed.
On Nov. 9, a private investigator pulled back the bedsheets and found blood. The next day, police came in with a search warrant.
According to the arrest affidavit, video showed Haden and Roberts going back to Haden's apartment on Halloween night, and Roberts leaving the next day struggling with a plastic bin with a suitcase on top of it. Police say he appeared to be trying to hide is identity with a hoodie and face mask.
Roberts was also seen on video at a hardware store buying items like a shovel, then eating at a fast-food restaurant.
Charlie Baird, an attorney not affiliated with the case, provided his analysis.
"It's going to be an interesting case, I think. There's a lot of video. It's amazing how it seems like everything today is recorded on some type of camera from somewhere," he said.
On Nov. 18, Roberts called Austin police from Colorado and confessed to being with Haden on Halloween night but said he didn't know where Haden was.
A week and a half later, police say he admitted to stabbing Haden and told them where to find his body.
MORE: Body found in WilCo is missing Austin man Justin Haden: APD
"The tampering with the corpse charge, the tampering with evidence charge generally are used by law enforcement as a means of charging and getting the prosecution started, so that they can use it as a basis to determine what offense is going to eventually be charged. In this case, that offense, of course, was murder," Baird said.
Roberts said he and Haden got into an argument, and Haden grabbed a knife, which Roberts grabbed from him, before stabbing Haden twice.
He then says Haden grabbed a cast-iron skillet, which Roberts also grabbed and used on Haden.
Haden's remains were found Dec. 1 in Williamson County along with a plastic bin and cast-iron skillet nearby.
"Typically, in a murder case, you have two defenses. Either, 'I didn't do it, somebody else did it, it wasn't me' or 'I did it, but I was justified in doing it.' And the typical justification in a murder case is self-defense. That is what Mr. Roberts has indicated in his statement to the law enforcement," Baird said. "It would be very difficult to come up with something other than self-defense."