WINTER GARDEN, Fla. – A man arrested in connection with the death of a teen at the center of an Orange County Amber Alert is accused of helping to destroy evidence and bury the body, according to the Winter Garden Police Department.
Police said the body of Bruce Hagans Jr. was found in a "shallow grave" Friday afternoon near a home on Robertson Street in Orlando, a week after he was thought to have been abducted. Authorities announced that evening that Luis Rivera Sr. was facing charges related to tampering with evidence.
According to an arrest affidavit, a family member of Rivera's met with Hagans on May 31 for a marijuana sale and when Hagans got into the man's gray Infiniti, gunshots were heard and Hagans was seen slumped over.
That man, who is not being named because he has not been arrested, immediately called Rivera to meet him at a body shop, according to the report.
Police said the owner of the body shop saw Hagans dead in the back seat and informed Rivera and his relative that there were security cameras placed around the shop, at which point Rivera removed them without the owner's permission.
Rivera and the man removed Hagan's body from the gray Infiniti into a red one, then drove back to their home in the Wedgefield area, the affidavit said.
The owner of a car detailing center took the gray Infiniti, removed the blood stains and replaced a headrest that had a bullet hole in it at the request of Rivera, who paid him $200, according to authorities.
Police said Rivera bought his relative a plane ticket out of state.
Another relative of Rivera told police Friday that he and the two other men destroyed evidence, buried the body, and burned Hagans' clothes and other evidence, the report said.
Rivera is facing multiple counts of destroying evidence, as well as other charges.
Police said they expect to make more arrests in the case.