3 charged with mutilation and murder of Michigan woman after her body was found in a burning car

Three people have been arrested and charged with the gruesome murder of a woman in Michigan after her body was found in a burning car. Angela Neilson, 28, was reportedly tortured and mutilated before her body was disposed of in a 1997 Toyota Tercel in southwest Detroit.

Two women, Alyssa Dickson, 21 and Felicia Bowles, 37, along with a male suspect Damiso Marble, 30 are being held without bail on charges of felony murder, torture, unlawful imprisonment, and disinterment or mutilation of a body.

The Detroit Police Department were not immediately able to identify the burned corpse which was recovered on 29 January but, the victim's family have claimed the body.

One fire official familiar with the case told The Detroit News that the body was "burned beyond recognition". Dental records are now being used to confirm the identity.

Neilson, a mother of two girls, was reportedly fighting an addiction to pills and heroin for the past year and a half. Her murder may be linked to her drug use.

"She's a mother, a daughter, a sister, she's a grandkid," Dwayne Gabbard, the father of her children told Fox2. "That's torture; that's just not something you do to a human. What could she have done to make somebody do that?"

Gabbard claimed he saw Neilson's photo on Backpage.com, an ad site that is recognised for promoting prostitution. She was also seen walking the streets of southwest Detroit.

"I kind of prepared myself but (not) for the way it happened," he said. "Drugs got the best of her. It's bad out there. It's bad."

The two accused women, whose cases are being tried together, are due to appear in court on 14 February for their probable cause conference, and then again on 22 February for their preliminary exams, the news outlet reported.