Transient Accused Of Burning Car With Body In Trunk In Gulfport

GULFPORT, FL — Gulfport police detectives believe they know who placed a body in the trunk of a car last September and then set both on fire near the Pinellas Trail.

A cyclist discovered the 2014 black Nissan Sentra on fire around 6 a.m. Sept. 21 along the Skyway portion of the Pinellas Trail between the Twin Brooks Golf Course near 22nd Avenue South and 41st Street South in Gulfport.

Fire crews responded and extinguished the fire. That's when they discovered a badly burned body in the trunk.

Using dental records, the Medical Examiner's Office identified the body as Jesus Manuel Taverez-Soto, 55. The car was also registered to Taverez-Soto.

After months of investigation, this week Gulfport police detectives arrested Andy R. Bryant, 34, a transient, in connection with the case. Bryant has been charged with arson and abuse of a dead human body.

Detectives said the charges don't include homicide because the autopsy and toxicology results didn't support a homicide charge. A forensic anthropologist could not find trauma to the skeleton or establish a cause of death.

However, detectives believe Bryant is the person who placed the body in the trunk of the car and then set both on fire. When questioned, Bryan confessed to finding the body, placing it in the trunk and setting the fire.

He is being held at the Pinellas County Jail on $500,000 bail.