Report: Suspect Used Lyft to Transport Strangled Body of Victim Away From Crime Scene

A murder suspect allegedly used ridesharing service Lyft to transport the body of his female victim away from the crime scene, according to a report.

29-year-old suspect Josh Hupperterz, who originally claimed he was too drunk to remember what happened, allegedly transported the body of 22-year-old Temple University student Jenna Burleigh, who died of blunt trauma and strangulation, more than 100 miles in a storage bin carried by a Lyft driver.

“Jenna Burleigh, from Harleysville, Pennsylvania, was last seen leaving a popular bar near Temple’s campus in North Philadelphia with suspect Josh Hupperterz, a former Temple student with a criminal background… She was later killed in his apartment,” reported NBC Philadelphia this week. “Her body was put inside a storage bin and moved from Hupperterz’s North Philadelphia apartment to the Jenkintown home of his mother. Sources told NBC10 it remained there overnight. Then, using a Lyft car service, Hupperterz transported Burleigh’s remains to a shed at his grandmother’s property in Paupack Township, Wayne County, investigators said. Burleigh’s body was found in the storage bin.”

Police reportedly found blood, large amounts of drugs, and cash in Hupperterz’s apartment.

According to NBC Philadelphia, Hupperterz is being charged with murder, abuse of a corpse, and tampering with and fabricating evidence.

Lyft, who claimed to be “devastated” by the incident, are reportedly “ready to work with the authorities in their investigation,” though it is unknown whether the unidentified Lyft driver was aware of what Hupperterz was transporting in the car.