A fitness instructor suspected of murdering a Texas Women’s University student, dismembering her body and burning the remains last year has now been hit with a new child pornography charge.
Charles Bryant, 31, was indicted in late August on a single third-degree felony count of possession of photos and videos showing children in sexual situations.
Bryant is scheduled to go to trial in December for both the child porn and the grisly murder of 24-year-old Jacqueline Vandagriff, whose scorched and mutilated body was discovered by firefighters in a plastic children’s swimming pool in September 2016.
More legal woes: Charles Bryant, 31, who is suspected of murdering Texas Women’s University student Jacqueline Vandagriff (right) a year ago, has now been indicted for child pornography
During the investigation into Vandagriff’s murder, police said they examined the contents of Bryant’s phone and came upon ‘images suspected to be child pornography,’ as Fort Worth Star-Telegram first reported.
The 31-year-old has remained in Tarrant County Jail on bail totaling $1.075million.
Last December, Bryant was indicted on a capital murder charge for allegedly killing Vandagriff using a zip tie, a knife or machete, ‘and an unknown object.’
Court documents stated that a hacksaw that may have had hair on the blade was found at Bryant’s home, along with a zip tie with traces of ‘hair fibers’ on it.
Vandagriff, from Frisco, Texas, and a student at Texas Woman’s University, was discovered by firefighters on September 14, 2016.
Her body had been cut up and burned, and was in a plastic children’s swimming pool when it was found.
A witness told police they saw a man standing over the fire before leaving, according to an arrest report.
Vandagriff was seen at a bar with the then-30-year-old fitness trainer the night she disappeared on September 13, 2016 (pictured)
Vandagriff was a junior at Texas Woman’s University in Denton (pictured), where she was studying nutrition
Medical examiners identified the victim by her fingerprints. Four days later, Bryant was arrested near his home.
Investigators also found a handgun, shotgun, .22-caliber rifle, as well as knives and other weapons, the Star-Telegram reported.
Vandagriff’s purse was located in a bin at the 31-year-old’s home, in addition to the other evidence, among them a possible bone fragment and fire pit remains.
Cellphone signals indicate the student’s phone was near Bryant’s home on the morning of September 14.
Vandagriff was last seen alive on surveillance video leaving a bar with Bryant on the night of September 13.
Bryant was also caught on camera buying a shovel from a Walmart shortly before 5am.
Bryant was indicted on a capital murder charge for allegedly killing Vandagriff using a zip tie, a knife or machete, cutting up the body and then burning it in a fire pit
According to his Facebook page, Bryant had worked at Procore Fitness, and police said he also worked at the Urban Cowboy Saloon – a gay dance club.
Bryant was arrested twice in the weeks just before Vandagriff was killed, as a result of a series of incidents with his 18-year-old ex-girlfriend who filed a protective order against him.
He was arrested on August 25, 2016, for showing up at his ex’s University of North Texas dorm room, and again on September 6 when he returned to her dorm and said he ‘had something for her’.
Vandagriff was a junior at Texas Woman’s University in Denton, where she was majoring in nutrition.