Man arrested for murder and his body burned accepts plea deal

SAN ANGELO, Texas (Concho Valley Homepage) — A San Angelo man accused of killing Eric Talton, transporting his body to a location near Junction and burning it in a fire grass, entered into a plea deal on Friday, May 24, according to court records.

Kenneth Harvey pleaded guilty to a first-degree murder charge and a second-degree felony charge of tampering with evidence with intent to impair a human corpse. In exchange, Harvey will be incarcerated in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice for 20 concurrent years.

Harvey was booked into the Tom Green County Detention Center alongside Brittany Schoonmaker on August 9, 2023, after being taken into custody in Deklab County, Georgia on August 3, 2023. The arrests occurred after 'Harvey and Schoonmaker became suspects in Talton's disappearance. .

According to court records, the San Angelo Police Department began a missing persons investigation on August 24, 2022, after learning from Talton's mother that Talton had been murdered by two individuals identified as Harvey and Schoonmaker. Investigators also learned that his body had been transported to San Antonio for disposal.

Later that day, detectives spoke with a Texas Ranger who responded to a murder investigation after a body was discovered in a grass fire on United States Highway 83 South near Junction, Circa 4:35 a.m. August 18. The fire scene confirmed that it was Talton.

During an interview with law enforcement, a witness said Harvey went to a residence for a short time on August 16 before returning in the afternoon. After kicking in the door, Harvey pushed Talton into the house where he began punching and kicking Talton until he lost consciousness, after which he threw Talton into the bathtub. Talton did not regain consciousness but reportedly groaned.

Another witness said in an interview with detectives that Schoonmaker told them that Harvey had killed Talton and that the two men were going to go to San Antonio to dispose of the body. The witness also said Schoonmaker told her that she and Harvey had wrapped the body in a bag and planned to burn it with gasoline while they were traveling to help someone move to San Antonio.