Man pleads guilty to helping hide body in 2022 murder

TYLER – According to our news partner KETK a 20-year-old Tyler man was sentenced to 11 years in prison after pleading guilty to helping “move and dispose” of the body of a 2022 murder victim. Christian Whitney-Polk, 20, was arrested on March 10, almost a year after authorities said they were searching for him in connection to the murder of 53-year-old Anthony Wilson. Wilson’s body was later found in the woods in North Tyler and his roommate, Timothy Jones, 27, was sentenced to 40 years in prison in June after pleading guilty to his murder.

According to an arrest warrant, Jones had told police in an interview “he had shot Anthony,” and after the shooting, contacted Whitney-Polk to help him move the body. “He stated he picked up Christian Whitney-Polk from his house, then drove him to the house on Gentry where they took Anthony Wilson’s body out, and they both disposed of Anthony Wilson’s body,” the warrant said.

Whitney-Polk allegedly told authorities at the time that he had not spoken to Jones in five days, but according to the warrant, his phone’s location data showed him to be at Jones’ house and in the woods near where the body was found the night of the murder. Whitney-Polk pleaded guilty to tampering with physical evidence with intent to impair a human corpse, and was sentenced that same day.