ORANGE COUNTY, Texas — A jury was selected Monday morning in the trial of a man prosecutors say killed a 21-year-old whose remains were found buried in a wooded area in Pinehurst.
Samed Rafiq, 23, is accused of murdering his roommate, Nathaniel Anderson.
Anderson was reported missing in June 2017, months before his remains were found in a shallow grave behind a shopping center in Orange County.
The skeletal remains were located in October 2017 buried in an area off of MacArthur Drive in Pinehurst.
Rafiq is in the Orange County Jail, held on a $525,000 bond. He's facing a charge of tampering with physical evidence and a murder charge according to jail records.
Kevin Van Horne, 32, was also arrested in the case and charged with evidence tampering according to 12News file stories. Van Horne is still behind bars according to Orange County Jail records.
The pair had been persons of interest in the case ever since Anderson was reported missing by his family in June 2017. The victim and two suspects were all roommates before Anderson's death.
Nathan Anderson's father, Mike Anderson, previously told 12News Van Horne and his son were friends. He said they knew Van Horne for about six years.
According to Anderson, his son was supposed to visit Rafiq in New York. When Anderson’s family hadn't heard from him, they called police to report him missing.
A Pinehurst police officer, who first took Anderson's missing persons report, was the first to testify Monday. Anderson's father reported him missing on June 11th of 2017.
The officer testified that that day he went to Anderson's mobile home off of Highway 62 and no one answered. The back door was open, so he went in. He testified that it appeared someone had moved out in a hurry, and the home contained several personal items, but no bed.
The officer called Anderson's roommate, who told him Anderson left with someone named James. From there Orange County sheriffs took over the investigation.
Next to testify was the bookkeeper for Anderson's mobile home park he was living in. She and the owner were, and are still dating. At the time of Anderson's murder, the pair were running the mobile home park with the owner's daughter, who lived in a trailer near Anderson's, and also testified.
The bookkeeper said Anderson moved in in October of 2016 with his roommate Kevin Van Horne. She said Anderson bought the trailer they were living in.
She said in April Samed Rafiq, the man accused of killing Anderson, moved in with them.May first was the last time she ever saw Anderson, when he had come to pay rent.
She and her family had gone on a trip to the lake in late May. When they got back on June 4th she learned from a neighbor that someone had moved out of Anderson's trailer in the middle of the night.
She says his roommate, Van Horne, came to pay rent the next day, and asked if he could do it in Anderson's name. She told him it was illegal, and she couldn't.
The bookkeeper says Van Horne seemed nervous, and told her he and Anderson had a disagreement and he was moving out. Shortly after the police came looking for Anderson.
The daughter of the owner of the mobile home was the next to testify. She was helping her father with upkeep at that time.
She testified that she and Anderson were friends, and she lived near him. She said sometime in mid to late May she and Anderson had a conversation on her porch. She said Anderson had some friends over, and he was scared. It made her worry for him. It was the last time she spoke to him.
She says a week or so later she woke up in the middle of the night to Samed Rafiq burning something. This was not authorized by her father. She says it was a large fire, and had a horrible smell. The next day she confronted him, and says she saw a burned box spring by their back door. She told Rafiq to dispose of it properly.
Anderson's roommate Kevin Van Horne was the last to testify Monday. He said he and Anderson met and hit it off when they were both working at Walmart in Orange.
They moved in together in October of 2016. He says Anderson went back to school, and he was the only one paying the bills.
He also testified that he bought Anderson a gun. He said Anderson met Rafiq playing an online game, and a few months later he moved in with them.
His testimony will continue tomorrow morning at 9 in Orange County.