HIALEAH, FLORIDA: A jealous ex-boyfriend from Hialeah, Florida, torched a car in South Miami on Thursday morning, August 10, police said.
The car belonged to a man who was hosting a female friend who had recently broken up with the arsonist. She considered the male victim as her "brother."
Witness told police he saw a 'strange figure'
The incident took place at around 6 am in the 6000 block of Southwest 76th Street where police and firefighters arrived to find a blue Honda Civic on fire Local10 reported.
A witness told police he saw a "strange figure": a man in black clothing and a white baseball cap acting suspiciously in the area.
The witness said he later saw the same man again from his apartment, running away from the scene in a beige Volkswagen Beetle as the Honda Civic was burning. He then went on to knock on the neighbor's doors, including the Civic owner.
She had left him and he was 'jealous'
The owner of the Civic said he did not know who set his car on fire or why. But his female friend, who was staying with him, had a clue.
She told police she had broken up with her ex-boyfriend Pier Vincenzo Lodedo and that he was “jealous” and wanted to “make him (the victim) pay for everything,” according to the police report.
The investigators, as per the report, believed that 5' 8" Lodedo, 44, set the man's car on fire as "vengeance" for leaving him.
Police said they found audio messages that confirmed her story. The detective went to the Lodedo's apartment on Thursday morning at the 300 block of East 33rd Street in Hialeah.
Lodedo is held on a $7,500 bond
The detectives also found traces of gasoline on the remains of the Civic. Police tracked down Lodedo, 44, at his apartment in Hialeah and arrested him on a charge of second-degree arson.
As per Miami Dade correction facility, Lodedo is originally an Italian national and was being held on a $7,500 bond at the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center on a charge of second-degree arson. He was booked at around 3 pm on Thursday.
