Investigators say a 22-year-old man was shot, left in a Honda and partially burned before two suspects were later stopped in Texas.

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Two men are facing first-degree murder and evidence-tampering charges after Broward County detectives said they tracked them to Texas in the killing of a 22-year-old man whose body was found inside a hidden, burned vehicle at a boat ramp west of Fort Lauderdale.

The case drew notice in South Florida because of the way investigators say the killing unfolded and the steps taken afterward to hide it. Detectives identified the dead man as Hunter Howell of Pembroke Pines. Authorities say he was killed Jan. 31, then left inside a green Honda Accord found the next morning at the West Broward Boat Ramp off North U.S. 27. Jayden DeJesus and Trevon Quinones were later arrested in Kaufman County, Texas, and brought back to Broward County, where jail records showed both were booked on murder and tampering counts.

Deputies first responded on the morning of Feb. 1 after someone reported a suspicious vehicle at the West Broward Boat Ramp, a remote stretch along the edge of the Everglades used by drivers, boaters and late-night visitors. Inside the Honda, investigators found Howell dead in the front passenger seat. An arrest warrant described soot throughout the car and burned clothing on the victim. A white hooded sweatshirt had been placed over Howell’s face and upper body, and detectives said the sweatshirt also showed charring and soot. An autopsy later found Howell had been killed by a gunshot wound to the left side of his head. Investigators also said evidence inside the car suggested someone tried to start a fire after the shooting, apparently to damage or destroy evidence. Broward Sheriff’s Office detectives said the Honda had been left at the far end of the lot in tall grass and vegetation, a placement they viewed as an effort to keep the car out of sight.

As detectives worked backward, they interviewed Howell’s father, girlfriend and friends to rebuild the final hours of his life. According to the arrest warrant, Howell supported himself in part by selling marijuana and had gone out the night of Jan. 31 to meet friends and make sales. Family and witnesses told investigators Howell had recently lost his own vehicle after it was struck by lightning, so he often depended on rides from people he knew, including DeJesus and Quinones. A friend told detectives Howell had last been heard from around 7 or 8 p.m. that night. The same friend said the group regularly visited a boat ramp in the Weston area to listen to music from cars fitted with loud speakers, and that description matched the place where Howell’s body was found. The warrant says detectives later learned both defendants deleted Instagram accounts after the killing, a step investigators treated as suspicious. Authorities have not publicly laid out a motive, and no court filing available in the reporting explained why Howell was targeted.

The investigation then moved from witness accounts to records and surveillance. Detectives obtained phone data that they said placed DeJesus traveling toward the boat ramp between about 8:45 p.m. and 10 p.m. on the night of the killing, then leaving the area around 10:10 p.m. The warrant described that movement as a continuous pattern from a residence to the boat ramp and back again during the same window in which Howell stopped answering calls. Local television reporting said SunPass records also helped detectives identify DeJesus and a passenger during a toll crossing. Investigators said the driver in that image appeared to be wearing the same sweatshirt later found with Howell in the car. Authorities also cited surveillance video near the apartment building where DeJesus and Quinones were said to be staying, saying the footage showed them in clothing that matched some items recovered from the Honda. Another witness, described in the warrant as a longtime girlfriend of DeJesus, told detectives he came to her place early the morning of the killing with Quinones in the Honda. By the next day, she said, the car was gone.

The criminal case picked up speed on Feb. 11, when sheriff’s deputies in Kaufman County, Texas, detained DeJesus and Quinones during a traffic stop. Broward authorities said the arrests came after their detectives developed probable cause in the homicide investigation. The sheriff’s office said the U.S. Marshals and a Broward violence intervention unit assisted in the operation. After the arrests, the men were extradited to South Florida. By Feb. 24, local reports said they had been booked into Broward’s main jail on one count each of first-degree murder with a firearm and tampering with or fabricating physical evidence. One local report said DeJesus was being held on a $50,000 bond, while another report and the Law&Crime account said the men were being detained without bond, leaving the exact bond status unclear in public reporting. No plea was reported in the coverage available, and the court docket details were not fully described in the news accounts.

For Howell’s family, the arrests brought movement in the case but not closure. His mother, Linda Howell, told South Florida television stations that her son had trusted the two men and had been paying them for rides in recent months. “They shot him. They shot him and tried to burn the evidence,” she said in one interview. Family members described Howell as the youngest of three children, a new father, someone who made music and helped other people. His mother said he “touched so many lives,” while his sister called him selfless and said he would give away the shirt off his back. Broward Sheriff’s Office spokesman Carey Codd said after the arrests that the investigation was still active as detectives tried to determine exactly what led to the homicide. That left the public case in a familiar but unfinished place: the suspects were in custody, the timeline had taken shape, and the central reason for the killing had still not been explained.

The latest local reports show DeJesus and Quinones had been returned to Broward County to face murder and evidence-tampering charges, while detectives continued to work on motive and other remaining details. The next milestone is expected to come in court as the prosecution begins moving the case through pretrial proceedings.

Author note: Last updated March 24, 2026.