Timothy Otto Charged With Arson, Burning Dead Body In Hastings
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) - A 33-year-old Hastings man faces charges after allegedly burning a dead man's body at a park near the Mississippi River.
Timothy Otto is charged with second-degree arson and interference with a dead body or scene of death in connection to the early July incident.
According to the criminal complaint, police and fire crews were dispatched to Jaycee Park on July 10, and found a portable restroom on fire. Next to the restroom, police found the remains of a man, later identified as 30-year-old Kyle Hamilton.
Hamilton, according to an autopsy, had fatal amounts of methamphetamine and fentanyl in his system. An accelerant was found in the soil underneath his body, and the State Fire Marshall determined that his body was the originating source of the fire.
Investigators then interviewed a witness, who said he saw Hamilton three days before, slumped against a wall in a Hastings residence called the "Doghouse." Another witness said she saw Hamilton in Otto's bedroom on July 6, slumped over and snoring.
The witness added that the next day, when she entered the room, she found Hamilton deceased, and could not find his pulse. Otto then put a blanket over his body and went to work, the complaint says.
On July 9, Otto invited the witness over to his bedroom, and the witness said when she got there, Hamilton's body was gone. Otto allegedly told her that he took his body to the boat launch and set a garbage can on fire with Hamilton's body inside.
Otto said, in a post-Miranda interview, that Hamilton had come to his room and used drugs. Otto said he eventually realized that Hamilton had overdosed, and didn't know what to do. He added that his memory ended there.
The arson charge carries a maximum sentence of 10 years, while the charge of interference with a body carries a maximum 3-year sentence.
