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Woman's burning body leads to boyfriend's arrest

A man has been arrested and charged with murdering his wife after her burning body was found in Dallas County over the weekend.
Gerald Troup (2013 arrest)

DALLAS -- A man has been arrested and charged with murdering his girlfriend after her burning body was found in Dallas County over the weekend.

The Dallas County Sheriff's Office was called at about 7:30 p.m. on May 20 for a call about suspicious activity near Bilindsay Road, between Malloy Bridge Road and Beltline.

The person on the phone told officers that he or she saw something on fire and a vehicle left the area. The caller went to the object on fire and realized it was a body.

The sheriff's office said the body was identified by the medical examiner as that of 52-year-old Tammy Cullins.

An arrest warrant reveals that investigators went to the address of her home where she lived with her boyfriend, Gerald Troup, but no one was home. The victim's neighbors said they saw Troup on May 20 scrubbing the floor of his garage with all four doors of a vehicle open. They said when he noticed them looking at him, he walked over to the trunk of the car and began to clean that, an arrest warrant states.

While investigators were at the home, Troup pulled up. He agreed to an interview and was taken to the sheriff's office, the warrant states. He told officials that he and Cullins were "jealous of each other" and he would monitor their home's sensors because they were going off when Cullins was believed to be sleeping. He also told Cullins' family she was missing, but he still had her cell phone and bank cards, the warrant states.

The detective interviewing him also noticed visible scratches and bruises on the suspect's hands and arms, the warrant states. He said he got the wounds from work, but refused to let them be photographed. He then said he hadn't been back at work since Cullins disappeared, the warrant states.

When asked about the vehicle in the garage, Troup told the investigator he didn't clean it, Cullins did.

The sheriff's office arrested Troup and charged him with Cullins' murder based on evidence and inconsistencies with his story.

The office released a mugshot for Troup stemming from a 2013 arrest, which is shown above.

Editor's Note: The sheriff's office originally identified Troup as Cullins' husband, but the warrant reveals otherwise.

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