A man has been arrested, months after a burned body was found on the floor of a Miami home.
According to an arrest report from the Miami Police Department, firefighters responded to a blaze on the morning of Aug. 18, 2024, at a home in the 3000 block of Southwest 13th Street.
Local 10 News learned the home was used as a multi-unit short term rental property, and police confirmed that the fire occurred in the rear unit.
According to the arrest report, while working to extinguish the flames, firefighters discovered a burned body on the floor of the unit.
While securing the scene, a dispatcher advised that a man, identified as MS, 42, had driven himself to Coral Gables Hospital, seeking medical treatment for severe burns all over his body.
Police said S, of Medley, was then transferred to Jackson Memorial Hospital’s Ryder Trauma Center due to the severity of his injuries.
According to the arrest report, a detective spoke with S as he was being transferred to the trauma center, but S’s statement to the detective was redacted from the publicly released report. Investigators believe S killed the victim, a woman he had been in a relationship with for years and set the home on fire to cover up the crime.
Police said the fire marshal investigating the cause of the blaze deployed an “arson dog” named Rex, which identified accelerant on S’s shoes.
Surveillance video from a Chevron gas station also showed S purchasing a red five-gallon fuel can and then filling it up at a pump, authorities said.
According to the arrest report, the victim’s manner of death was ruled a homicide by the medical examiner’s office.
Police did not disclose if the victim was killed prior to being burned in the fire.
S was arrested Thursday on charges of second-degree murder, first-degree arson and attempting to tamper with physical evidence.
As of Tuesday, S was being held at the Miami-Dade County Pre-Trial Detention Center where his bond had yet to be set.
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source: local10
