The charred remains of two men — who were shot dead in Brooklyn — were found in a Queens marshland after firefighters put out an early-morning blaze yesterday, sources said.
The bodies were discovered in the weeds off Howard Beach AT around 5:15 a.m.
Last night, they were identified as Rudy Superville, 22, and Gary Lopez, 25, both of Brooklyn.
“We do have an idea of a motive, but I’m not disclosing it,” said NYPD spokesman Paul Browne.
At first, cops thought the victims were bound, “but it turned out to be plastic material that melted on their bodies,” Browne said.
“There’s some kinds of indication they had been in plastic or plastic bags. The theory is that they may have been killed elsewhere and dumped there. First responders said there appeared to be binding. Since then, we believe it was just residue plastic left over.”
The Queens fire broke out at around 4:15 a.m. near 159th Avenue and 78th Street and was elevated to two alarms an hour later, FDNY officials said.
Once the brush fire was under control, firefighters found the two fully clothed victims lying face down in a marshy area of Spring Creek Park, off the Belt Parkway, officials said.
“My guess is that they weren’t there very long because the fire was started, apparently, to cover up the crime,” Queens DA Richard Brown said.
Cops believe the victims were from Bushwick and were shot in East New York before their bodies were dumped in the marshland, sources said.
Police said that the Medical Examiner’s Office was examining the bodies to determine the official cause of death.
Detectives were studying surveillance video for clues. One camera captured something of interest near the Howard Beach scene, a source said.
“We’re used to fires around here. This is just an added little twist,” local resident Michael Silver, 42.
A neighbor who sells security cameras for a living had equipment pointed toward the blaze.
“We have cameras on our house. Some of them face the field and cops are looking at them,” the neighbor said.
“The fire was off screen when it first started, then after a bit, it grew and it was on camera. All I could see was fire.”
Additional reporting by Larry Celona and Kirstan Conley