Man charged with murder after pushing victim from 25th floor of Miami Beach condo: police
A Broward County man was arrested Wednesday after police say he shoved another man off the 25th-floor balcony of a Miami Beach condo, causing his death.
Corey Hutterli, 37, of Parkland, is facing charges of second-degree murder and burglary with assault or battery.
The victim was identified by NBC 6 as Justin Zelin. It’s unclear from Hutterli’s arrest report how the two knew each other.
The incident happened on the morning of Feb. 15 at Akoya Condominium, an oceanfront building at 6365 Collins Ave. where Zelin lived.
Before he died, Zelin had called 911 around 10:22 a.m., according to police. Dispatchers heard a struggle between him and another man, the Miami Beach Police Department said in an arrest affidavit.
Surveillance footage showed the victim’s body hitting the ground pavement around eight minutes later on the south side of the building, the affidavit said.
Police went to the building and found Hutterli, who appeared to have left the victim’s apartment “in such a hurry that he is wearing socks with no shoes” and was sweating and out of breath.
Hutterli appeared surprised by the presence of officers and spontaneously said to police, “What’s going on? Somebody, he freaked out, attacked me,” the affidavit said.
“What is the situation?” Hutterli allegedly asked police. “Did he jump?”
Officer detained Hutterli and executed a search warrant on his backpack, which held a large piece of the victim’s beard hair, the affidavit said. Hutterli also had a small bag of ketamine in his jacket pocket, according to police. He declined to be interviewed and asked for an attorney.
Investigators searched the victim’s apartment and found blood on the balcony, which was a DNA match with Hutterli, the affidavit said.
There were no signs the victim had suicidal tendencies, according to police. Based on the evidence, Hutterli caused the victim to fall to his death and die from blunt force trauma, the affidavit said.
Hutterli was being held Thursday, with bond still to be set, at the Miami-Dade Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center, jail records show. He didn’t have an attorney listed yet.
