Marc Pourner, 28, was last seen at his house off Cypresswood in Spring on Wednesday, November 11, leaving late that night after his roommates overheard an argument, one friend, Joseph Day, wrote on Facebook November 13. He was a no-call, no-show at his job as a bookkeeper at Randalls Grocery for the rest of the week. His phone showed that his last location was in Stafford, but he was not picking up. “This is not like him,” Day wrote. “Please help.…We need to find him.”
The following night, Montgomery County sheriff’s deputies found Pourner’s body near a path in a wooded area just off Firetower Road and FM 1485, about 20 miles east of The Woodlands. According to the sheriff’s office, deputies were responding to a tip about a charred white truck poking out of the woods, with a license plate appearing to match Pourner’s. They contacted his family, who had already submitted a missing person report to police, and his father, Mark Pourner, came to the scene and identified his son’s body.
According to Lt. Brady Fitzgerald, his death has been ruled a homicide, though detectives have not yet released any leads they may have on suspects. Fitzgerald told the Houston Press authorities have been looking for whoever Pourner may have been arguing with last Wednesday night, but did not have further information. Autopsy results are currently pending, he said, and the torched pickup has been taken to the Montgomery County Crime Lab.
Mark Pourner told the Houston Chronicle that there is a possibility this may have been a hate crime, given Pourner was gay, but that they were still trying to establish what happened. When reached by phone, Pourner’s mother, Jolene, did not want to comment at this time since the investigation is ongoing.
This article appears in Nov 19-25, 2015.
