A motorbike salesman arrested on suspicion of murder after his new co-worker disappeared last week has claimed he is being framed.
Steve Hlebo, 39, an employee of GP Sports motorbike shop in San Jose, California, was arrested on Saturday and charged with killing Kyle Myrick, 28, who was reported missing on Friday.
Police say Hlebo killed Myrick in a burned-out storage unit next to the bike shop just four days after Myrick started working there - but Hlebo now says he is being set up.
Speaking from jail earlier today, Hlebo said that somebody had been drugging his coffee 'for days' in order to keep him awake, meaning he was out driving in the hours after Myrick went missing.
He told
NBC: 'I think they were putting it in intentionally so they could discredit me and pin the murder on me, essentially.'
According to reports, Myrick was last seen at GP Sports on Friday afternoon before going to perform a task with Hlebo, before he vanished.
Police were called out by concerned relatives on Friday, and say they found evidence of a crime scene in a boarded-up unit next to the main motorbike shop.
The unit was a storage facility used by GP Sports until it was gutted by a fire in 2014.
While officers have not yet found Myrick's body, they say there was enough evidence in the burned-out building to suggest a murder had taken place.
Hlebo said he left work between 5 and 6pm that day before going out for a drive until around 2am the following morning because he was unable to sleep.
When he arrived home, he says officers were waiting for him and arrested him at gunpoint before accusing him of the killing.
Police also impounded his white 2003 GMC Sierra 1500 truck which they believe was involved with the crime.
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Meanwhile Hlebo has not said who he believes is trying to frame him, or what possible motivation someone could have for doing so.
Speaking to
Mercury News, he added that he has 'nothing against the guy [Myrick]', saying he has 'no idea' why he's in jail.
Myrick and Hlebo are believed to have worked for the same company for several years, but had only been at the same store for four or five days before Myrick vanished.