Click here for updates on this story
Miami, FL (WFOR) — A Virginia man involved in a single car accident on the Palmetto Expressway is now charged with murder after a dead body was found in his trunk.
According to police, Robert Coltrain, 25, got into an accident on Sunday afternoon, October 25, on SR 826 just south of NW 154th Street near Miami Lakes.
When FHP troopers arrived, they immediately smelled a “foul odor emitting from the rear of the 2009, Silver, Acura RL,” according to the police incident report. The car had a Virginia license tag registered to Coltrain.
Due to road conditions and rain, the car was towed to the parking lot of the Westland Mall in Hialeah.
When they got there, he told police he wanted to take some belongings from the car, including a gun, which he admitted to troopers belonged to him.
According to the police report, troopers opened the trunk “as a result of the continuous foul odor and insect presence.”
That’s when they discovered a body, later identified as 25-year-old Brian Trotter, who disappeared from Triangle, Virginia a week earlier.
The body was wrapped in a piece of fabric and was in an advanced stage of decomposition, according to the police report.
Coltrain then told police “the body in the truck of his vehicle was a male.”
Investigators determined Trotter was last seen alive on October 17 after being picked up at his Virginia apartment by Coltrain, who was a friend.
On October 18, Trotter was reported missing by family members.
The vehicle, with the body inside, was towed to the Medical Examiner’s Office where a preliminary examination revealed “he sustained multiple gunshot wounds to his torso.”
With a search warrant, police recovered a Glock .45 caliber hand gun. Police also recovered a casing and a projectile which “suggested that the victim was shot at least once inside.”
During a recorded call at the Homicide Bureau, Coltrain apologized and told his sister the shooting took place on Oct. 17 in Virginia.
Detectives are still trying to determine a motive for the killing.
Coltrain was booked into the Miami-Dade jail on Monday afternoon charged with 2nd Degree Murder and illegal transport of human remains.
Please note: This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.
Regulators authorized AstraZeneca’s coronavirus vaccine for use in adults throughout the European Union on Friday, amid criticism the bloc is not moving fast enough to vaccinate its population.
WASHINGTON (AP) — A former FBI lawyer was sentenced to probation for altering an email that the Justice Department relied on during its surveillance of an aide to President Donald Trump during the Russia investigation.
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Democratic Gov. Tony Evers lashed out Friday at rival Republicans who tried to repeal his statewide mask mandate, saying killing the order would be a ridiculous move comparable to abolishing speed limits.
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — As some conservatives in South Carolina celebrated getting a bill that would ban almost all abortions in the state past a legislative barrier and likely becoming law, they said they are not finished trying to end all abortions.
A Moscow court on Friday put the brother and several allies of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny under house arrest for two months as authorities sought to stymie more protests over the jailing of the top Kremlin foe.