An Alabama man has been charged with accepting money to kill another man earlier this year then buried his body — inside his pickup truck — in a hole he dug with a backhoe and set it on fire.
A Bibb County grand jury indicted 57-year-old John Collum on charges of murder for hire, hindering prosecution, and abuse of a corpse, according to the indictment.
The second count in the indictment names two other people who allegedly helped Collum bury the remains of Oscar de Santiago Soto in his truck and setting it on fire before covering the hole with the backhoe.
According to the Shelby County Reporter, Soto was last seen on June 18 in Montevallo and his remains, in his burned Ford Ranger, were found 10 days later, less than amile from where the vehicle was last seen.
Collum was charged with abuse of a corpse, tampering with evidence and hindering prosecution earlier this year, but in September, the Bibb County District Attorney’s Office sought the murder for hire charge.
Court documents say he was paid in “US Currency,” but they do not say how much, nor do they indicate if prosecutors know who paid him.
One of the two people named in Collum’s indictment as assisting him with Soto’s burial in reportedly in federal custody, but it’s not clear if that person has been charged in connection with Soto’s murder.
The Alabama Law Enforcement Agency says that more arrests may be forthcoming.
Collum has pleaded not guilty.
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[Featured image: John Collum/Bibb County jail]
