Arrest made in case of Collier brothers found in burned car

GOLDEN GATE ESTATES, Fla. A 24-year-old man was arrested Wednesday in the deaths of two brothers found shot to death in a burned car.

Zachary Anderson, of 20th Avenue NW in Golden Gate Estates, faces charges of third-degree murder, manslaughter and arson in the deaths of Christopher Patrick Hunter, 36, and Thomas Anthony Hunter, 41, both of 13th Street NW.

The bodies of the Hunters were found inside a 2002 silver Mercury Mountaineer that caught fire Jan. 18 along the 700 block of 20th Avenue Northwest.

Anderson shot the brothers with an assault-style rifle during an arranged meeting, Collier County Sheriff’s Office detectives said. The vehicle was later set on fire.

An autopsy determined the brothers died from their gunshot wounds, the sheriff’s office said.

Anderson is also facing charges of robbery, shooting into an occupied vehicle, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, and attempted purchase of schedule II drug in connection with the slayings, the sheriff’s office said.

Any motive is unclear. A sheriff’s office investigation into the case continues.

Deputies arrested Anderson at the Collier County Jail, where he has been held since his Jan. 27 arrest on an unrelated probation violation charge stemming from a August 2016 robbery conviction, the sheriff’s office said.