MIAMI – Authorities are investigating after a body was found badly burned in Miami.
Police said the man who committed the crime tried to cover it up. The suspect allegedly backed up a U-Haul truck and dumped the woman’s body next to train tracks before setting it on fire, according to authorities.
Investigators learned that the woman was strangled to death before she was brought to the tracks.
Police have since arrested 57-year-old Allen Thomas for the crimes.
According to his arrest report, through surveillance cameras, investigators witnessed Thomas backing the truck up near train tracks across from Northeast 73rd Street and Second Avenue, just after 5 a.m. Sunday.
Detectives said that’s when he was spotted getting out of the driver’s seat and walking to the back of the truck. Shortly after, flames began coming from the rear of the vehicle. Seconds later, police said he drove away.
On Monday, detectives found Thomas and that U-Haul truck at his apartment on Northwest 60th Street and 12th Avenue.
Thomas was arrested, but it’s what police found inside his home that was disturbing; several knives, cleaning supplies and blood consistent with a struggle.
A neighbor who did not want to show his face was shocked to learn of the woman’s death, especially after hearing the details.
A witness told police that Thomas said the victim was dead in the apartment for two days before her decomposing body was dragged into that truck and then burned.
“He killed already and he will do it again if he gets the chance to do it,” the neighbor said.
The medical examiner determined that the victim died following trauma to her neck.
Unfortunately, detectives haven’t learned who she is because her body was so badly burned.
As for Thomas, he has a lengthy criminal history that dates back to the early 1980′s.
He remains behind bars facing a second-degree murder charge. He is being held without bond.