Left inset: John Collum (Bibb County Sheriff’s Department). Center inset: Oscar De Santiago Soto (Montevallo Police Department). Right inset: The 1998 Ford Ranger that John Collum allegedly set on fire with Oscar De Santiago Soto’s body inside before burying both in a hole that Collum dug with a backhoe (Montevallo Police Department). Background: The 2000 block of Randolph Road in Bibb County, Ala., where John Collum allegedly buried Oscar De Santiago Soto, along with his Ford Ranger, after setting both on fire (Google Maps).
An Alabama resident faces a capital murder-for-hire charge after being accused of participating in the brutal killing of a man whose remains, along with his pickup truck, were allegedly incinerated and buried with a backhoe, court filings reveal.
According to prosecutors in Bibb County, 57-year-old John Wesley Collum was allegedly recruited to assist in the murder of 36-year-old Oscar De Santiago Soto, alongside two unidentified accomplices earlier this year.
Local NBC affiliate WVTM reported from the charging documents that Collum was involved in “placing [Soto’s body] in a hole, setting them on fire, and burying them with a backhoe.”
Reports indicate that Soto’s body was interred inside his truck before both were set alight.
The documents state, “John Wesley Collum … intentionally caused the death of [Soto],” and further allege that he “knowingly and willfully abused the corpse of [Soto].”
Authorities have confirmed that at least one other suspect is in custody, though formal charges have yet to be filed against him.
Collum was indicted for capital murder for pecuniary gain, hindering prosecution, abuse of a corpse and tampering with physical evidence. He is accused of killing Soto for an undisclosed amount of money and attempting to destroy evidence, according to the local Tuscaloosa Thread news outlet.
Police say Soto was driving a 1998 Ford Ranger pickup truck when he went missing on June 18. Photos of him and the truck were released to the public earlier this year and Montevallo cops probed his disappearance with help from the Alabama State Bureau of Investigation and federal authorities.
Soto’s remains were found within a mile of where his vehicle was last seen in an area on the 2000 block of Randolph Road. Prosecutors say Collum allegedly buried and set his body on fire sometime between June 18 and June 27.
Collum was locked up in the Bibb County Jail with no bond set. His trial is scheduled to take place in September 2026. He has pleaded not guilty.
