Iowa troopers find body when they stop to help stalled car

Unsuspecting Iowa troopers stumbled upon a disturbing situation Tuesday when they stopped to help a stalled car on the highway — and found a dead body riding in the passenger seat.

Jihad Abdul Malik Gasaway, 23, was charged with murder and abuse of a corpse, despite his claims the late rider had been alive just moments before police arrived, the state’s department of public safety said.

Gasaway was trying to restart his stranded Silver 2010 Chevrolet Malibu on the side of the highway in Malcolm just after 8 a.m. when the troopers arrived to help, according to an affidavit obtained by Law & Crime.

He asked for a jump and admitted to officers that he was in possession of a 9 mm gun.

The troopers quickly noticed there was a second man lying slumped in the passenger seat “covered with miscellaneous clothing,” the documents allege.

The man — later identified as 26-year-old Kemp Xavier Sherrod Harriel — was unresponsive and appeared to be suffering from gunshot wounds.

A 9 mm shell casing was found on the front floorboard and two expended bullets were in the front passenger door, officials said.

Gasaway was taken into custody and placed inside the patrol car, where he allegedly said, “Please be OK.”

During an interrogation, Gasaway told investigators that he and Harriel had left Cedar Rapids for Des Moines early that morning.

He claimed he covered up his friend because “I thought he was very cold” and “kept him warm because we were both cold,” the document said.

“I didn’t know (victim) was gone until I watched the police eyes and read his lips. That’s when I started crying in the car. He was alive and talking to me,” Gasaway allegedly said.

Gasaway later admitted that he had driven the Malibu into a ditch along the highway earlier that morning — at which time Harriel was still alive.

When asked what happened to the Harriel, Gasawy allegedly said, “We got into it.”

Investigators ruled that Harriel was fatally shot twice in the chest, the state Medical Examiner’s Office ruled.

Gasaway is being held at the Poweshiek County Jail on a $50,000 bond.