Man Pleads Guilty To Murder In Dumpster Fire Case

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) - A Brooklyn Center man pleaded guilty on Monday to shooting another Brooklyn Center man in the head, stuffing his body into a mattress and lighting it on fire near a dumpster on the city's south side.

Guillermo Ayala-Enriquez, 23, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in the death of Rufino Clara-Rendon. Ayala-Enriquez will be sentenced June 23, with prosecutors seeking a 40-year sentence.

His co-defendant, Manuel Guzman, was convicted of first-degree murder in April trial and sentenced to life without parole.

Police found Clara-Rendon's badly burned body on Aug. 7 near a dumpster on 39th Street East between Snelling and Minnehaha avenues. Investigators said they found an abundance of flammable liquids at the scene, and a witness told them he heard a loud "whoosh" when the fire was lit that night.

According to a criminal complaint, all three men were at a barbecue before they drove to Guzman's south Minneapolis home. A witness said that Guzman and Ayala-Enriquez were calling Clara-Rendon a snitch, fearing that he told a drug dealer that they'd robbed him.

The witness said the three went into a bathroom, where Ayala-Enriquez allegedly shot Clara-Rendon in the head. Guzman and Ayala-Enriquez then rolled up Clara-Rendon's body in a carpet, cut open a mattress and stuffed the body inside, the complaint states.

Guzman and Ayala-Enriquez then went to a gas station and got a can of gas. They tried to stuff the body in the dumpster, but it was too heavy. That's when they laid Clara-Rendon next to the dumpster and lit his body on fire.