FORT MYERS, Fla. — Lehigh Acres man found guilty of murder charges after burning a 25-year-old man's body and throwing it in the back of a trunk in Palm Beach County.
Neville Bethune, 50, was found guilty and sentenced to life in prison for first degree murder with a firearm and 15 years in prison for Arson in the Second Degree.
According to the report, in 2019, a 25-year-old victim visited Bethune at his home in Lehigh Acres to retrieve money that was allegedly owed to him. Once the victim arrived, he spoke with Bethune and another man who was there, co-defendant, Andrew Maldonado.
The deputies at Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office found the victim's body reportedly burned badly, in the trunk of a car in South Bay near Palm Beach County.
According to the report, there is video footage from a nearby gas station that shows Bethune, his brother another co-defendant in the case, Donovan Baker, and Maldonado in the area that night and following the victim’s rental car, near where the car was set on fire.
The three men were reportedly arrested while the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office and the Lee County Sheriff’s Office investigated the case.
