16-year-old charged with murder, accused of setting man's home on fire to hide body

CATAWBA COUNTY, North Carolina -- A 16-year-old is behind bars after deputies say the teen killed a man and then set his house on fire to hide the body.

According to WSOC, deputies charged 16-year-old Lennon Henderson with murder after they found 40-year-old Wesley Bruner dead inside of a burning home in Newton over the weekend.

The Catawba County Sheriff's Department later determined that Bruner was actually killed from a gunshot wound.

Stay on top of breaking news stories with the ABC11 News App

Investigators believe Henderson knew Bruner and was attempting to rob him and then set the fire to cover up the homicide.

Authorities said firefighters found signs of a possible break-in and a container of flammable liquid inside of the home.

"We believe someone set the fire once they shot him," said Catawba County Sheriff Coy Reid. "We know he did have a large amount of cash that he had come into, and we haven't been able to find that. It's going to be very challenging when you have a fire that destroys a lot of the physical evidence."