Body in trunk identified as missing man
Driver charged with murder, passengers arrested
A man who was reported missing from the Florida Keys was later found dead inside the trunk of his car wrapped in bed sheets and plastic — and investigators say the man who was driving the car is the killer.
The case began to unfold when the white 2018 4-door Honda Accord looked like the one that belonged to Jose Munoz, 39, who had not been seen since Dec. 6 and had just been reported missing by family members.
When Munoz’s brother spotted the car Thursday, he followed it out of Monroe County and into a Walmart parking lot in far southwest Miami-Dade County near the Homestead Air Reserve Base and called police.
The sibling pointed out
aman who had just walked out of Walmart and identified him as car’s driver.
Police detained Justin Earnshaw, 38, and his two passengers, according to an arrest report released Friday. the the Earnshaw initially identified himself as “Humphrey Thomas” and told police he rented the car last week from Munoz — or “Spooky” — at a Florida City motel.
As investigators began searching the car and waiting for it to be towed, “Officers opened the trunk of [the] Honda Accord and discovered an apparent human body wrapped in plastic. There was a foul odor emanating from the interior of the trunk and apparent blood stains were observed,” the arrest report said.
After all three people with the car were questioned, Earnshaw was arrested and his two passengers were released.
He was booked in Miami-Dade’s jail on charges of second-degree murder, grand theft, giving a false name and a charge of cocaine possession, records show.
According to police, after his arrest, Earnshaw — who has no listed permanent address — confessed to killing Munoz.
He told investigators that “he became irate with the victim” several days earlier while they were in a hotel room and punched Munoz several times in the face and neck. After choking Munoz, Earnshaw strangled him again with a telephone cord to make sure he was dead and then wrapped the body and put it in the trunk of the Honda, the arrest report said.
The report didn’t indicate Earnshaw had become irate. being held without bond. why He’s