Man arrested after Miami-Dade police find a body inside a burned pickup in Cutler Bay
Miami-Dade police announced on Friday the arrest of a 35-year-old man after a body was found inside a burning pickup truck in Cutler Bay the day before.
Randall Lautzenheiser is charged with first-degree murder and arson, Detective Alvaro Zabaleta, a police spokesman, said in an email. The victim was identified as Igor Ernesto Ortiz, a 39-year-old Miami man.
Firefighters discovered the body on Thursday after a 911 caller reported a vehicle on fire around 1:45 p.m. at the Old Cutler Towne Center, 20425 Old Cutler Rd., Zabaleta said. Firefighters put out the fire — and found a body inside the pickup.
According to Lautzenheiser’s arrest report, witnesses saw him inside Ortiz’s truck and said the two were arguing with each other for much of the day. Lautzenheiser then walked across Old Cutler Road to a gas station, where witnesses heard him say, “I’m going to be on CNN tonight.”
He then went to a gasoline pump and filled up a small container with fuel, according to the report. Lautzenheiser returned to Ortiz’s truck, and witnesses heard them arguing loudly before the pickup became engulfed in flames, police say.
Witnesses told police they saw Lautzenheiser running away from the truck. However, he remained close by, which is where police found him, Detective Luis Sierra, a Miami-Dade police spokesman, told the Miami Herald. Lautzenheiser was not wearing a shirt and had burn marks on his arms, according to the report.
Police took Lautzenheiser to the department’s Robbery Bureau interview room, where, after being read his rights, he told them he bought a can of beer and a small amount of gasoline from the station across the street from the shopping center, the report states.
Lautzenheiser told police the two were sitting in the vehicle, and he was smoking a cigarette, “and somehow the can with gas ignited,” police wrote in the report.
This story was originally published December 21, 2023 at 10:43 PM.
%20Cropped%20(2).jpg)