Thomas King, a 31-year-old man, was a fast-food restaurant employee in Fort Worth, Texas, whose disappearance turned into a homicide investigation after he failed to come home from work in mid-April 2026. He worked at a Taco Casa near Interstate 30 and East Loop 820, and relatives reported him missing on April 14 after he did not return home from his shift the night before.
According to reports, King had a cognitive disability, and his family said it was highly unusual for him to disappear or fail to return home after work.
Investigators began tracing King’s movements and soon found his Hyundai Sonata at a Quality Inn on I-20 in Arlington. Surveillance footage from the motel reportedly showed a man arriving in King’s car late on April 13, shortly after King left work. The person seen on camera was the only occupant of the vehicle and was wearing a Taco Casa jacket. Police later identified that person as Gregory D. Lewis, 34, who worked with King at Taco Casa and was staying at the motel with his girlfriend.
The investigation shifted from a missing-person case to a homicide case after detectives found King’s body in a wooded area or open field on Fort Worth’s east side. According to an arrest-warrant affidavit described in news reports, a homicide detective noticed the smell of decomposition when he arrived, and King’s body was found about 20 feet inside a tree line. Investigators said it appeared that King had been dragged there. He had been shot in the head, and a fired 9mm cartridge casing was found near his body.
Police said evidence tied Lewis to the killing. Ammunition recovered from a handgun found in Lewis’ Arlington motel room was reportedly the same caliber, style and brand as the casing recovered near King’s body. Investigators also said Lewis initially denied seeing King when police showed him King’s photo during the early canvass at the motel. Later, Lewis’ girlfriend provided detectives with evidence that helped show his route after leaving the restaurant.
On April 18, Lewis contacted detectives through his girlfriend and agreed to speak after being advised of his Miranda rights. During that interview, police said Lewis confessed. According to reports summarizing the affidavit, Lewis said King had given him a ride after work on April 13 and that the two drove to a business complex roughly two miles away. Lewis allegedly admitted that he took King behind a dumpster, shot him, dragged his body into the woods, and then drove away in King’s Hyundai Sonata, returning to the Arlington motel.
Lewis was already in custody on unrelated charges when detectives identified him as the suspect. Fort Worth police said homicide detectives would file a capital murder charge, and reports stated that investigators believed King was killed during the theft of his car. News accounts described Lewis as King’s coworker, and King’s relatives said Lewis had previously bullied him and took advantage of his trusting nature and limited mental capabilities.
King’s family remembered him as a loving father who cared deeply for his children and showed up for them despite the challenges he lived with. What began as worry over a missing loved one quickly became a grim investigation into a betrayal by someone he knew from work. The case, as reported, centers on the allegation that King was lured or taken behind a business complex after leaving his job, shot, hidden in the woods, and robbed of the car that later led detectives back to the man accused of killing him.
