Two pizza boxes helped solve a Miami murder case. They were left in the back of a Cadillac

Pizza may have cost Miguel Hernandez his life — and it also helped detectives catch his killer, police say.

Miami police have arrested a man they say shot and killed Hernandez, after first stealing three Pizza Hut boxes the victim was carrying as he pedaled his bicycle through Overtown earlier this month.

The suspected gunman, Mike Velace, 34, was booked into a Miami-Dade jail early Saturday on a charge of second-degree murder. Miami police say he was part of a group of friends in a Cadillac Escalade that stopped Hernandez, roughed him up and stole his pizzas.

Velace made his first appearance in Miami-Dade bond court Monday morning. He’ll be held without bond while awaiting trial.

Detectives later found the stolen pizza boxes inside the Escalade, tying the vehicle and the group to the crime, according to an arrest warrant.

Hernandez was shot and killed on Feb. 2. Police surveillance cameras captured the Cadillac, with a Miami Heat decal on the back, stopping Hernandez on Northwest 13th Street just after 3 a.m. Five people got out of the Cadillac.

“One of the occupants is seen taking on the victim’s pizzas,” according to an arrest warrant by Miami Detective Ed Tobin.

Hernandez, the video showed, rode the bicycle away but the group followed him, beating him up, throwing his bicycle and taking the remaining pizzas. The footage showed what appeared to be a pizza slice falling — and getting picked up and taken by one of the attackers.

Hernandez escaped to an apartment complex in the 1100 block of Northwest First Court. Surveillance footage showed the Cadillac following him, and what appeared to be Velace get out wielding a gun.

“Approximately two seconds after the shooter enters the interior catwalk, a bright single light flash (believed to be a muzzle flash) is seen,” the warrant said.

Miami homicide detectives tracked down the Cadillac, which belonged to a woman who worked with Velace at a Popeyes chicken restaurant in Virginia Gardens. She told police that she picked up Velace and three other co-workers to hang out after their shift ended early that morning.

She described what happened, identifying Velace as the instigator who later asked to be driven to the complex, where he would kill the man, Miami police said. Velace told the others that “he felt insulted” by the victim, the warrant said.

Homicide detectives noticed two pizza boxes in the back of the Cadillac as they were interviewing her at her home, the warrant said.

“The pizza boxes in the Cadillac appeared to be the pizza boxes belonging to the victim that are depicted on the [police] surveillance video,” the warrant said.

Another of the co-workers later told police the group went to a liquor store, then a nightclub after the shooting to “chill,” police said.

Velace later went on the lam, cutting off his dreads and skipping out on work. “I’m out with my family speaking to lawyers,” he allegedly texted his manager at Popeyes. Ultimately, he was arrested at a home in Miami Gardens on Friday night.

This story was originally published February 24, 2020 at 11:23 AM.