Two men and a 14-year-old boy are arrested in connection with the death of a man whose body was found in a burning car in Miami Beach.

The body of Cordell Cooper was found Aug. 11 in the back seat of a burning vehicle at 973 Bay Dr., Miami Beach police said. The body was so badly burned that DNA was used to identify it.

An autopsy showed that Cooper was beaten, stabbed and strangled before being set on fire, police said.

After identifying Cooper, detectives spoke to an informant who led them to suspects Martin Gallegos, 20, and a 14-year-old boy. Gallegos was in the Miami-Dade County Jail on a probation violation.

Miami Beach police said Gallegos admitted to his involvement and told investigators that Cooper had been the target of a robbery and carjacking.

"They saw the victim walking down the street and decided to make him the target of a robbery and a carjacking. When that didn't pan out, they decided to kill him because he knew who they were," said Detective Juan Sanchez, of the Miami Beach Police Department. "They did beat him. They did strangle him, and they did stab him to death."

Sanchez said that after what they did to Cooper, the would-be robbers left empty-handed.

"He had nothing for them to rob," Sanchez said. "All they had was a vehicle, and they tried going to his ATM. There was no money in the account, so they weren't able to accomplish what they set out to do, which was to rob this individual of money."

Police said the pair killed Cooper and left him in the vehicle. But an acquaintance, Ellis McDaniel, 21, told Gallegos he should burn the body to keep it from being identified, drove him to a gas station and gave him a gas container, which Gallegos used to torch the body and the vehicle, Miami Beach police said.

Gallegos and the 14-year-old boy each face charges of first-degree murder. McDaniel is charged with accessory after the fact to murder.