Two Gary men face charges after a Lyft driver was killed during a robbery on Sept. 23, then his SUV was later abandoned and torched.

       Robert E. Simms III, 33, and Isiah Lenburg, 24, both of Gary, were charged Friday with murder and other felonies.

       Both were arrested and ordered held without bail.

       They are implicated in the shooting death of Glynon “Coach” Nelson, 38, of Crown Point. Nelson was also a youth basketball coach.

       Nelson was cooperative during the robbery, but Simms “killed him anyway,” according to a criminal affidavit. Lenburg took a gun out of Nelson’s glove compartment, it says.

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       His body was discovered Sept. 23 at Old Hobart Road and Atchison Drive in Gary’s Miller section. A driver spotted the body and called 911 sometime before 11:30 a.m., the court document says.

       He was shot twice in the back, court records show.

       Shortly after the shooting, Nelson’s blue 2018 Mitsubishi Outlander was found ablaze near 23rd Avenue and King Street on Gary’s West Side, records state. The Gary Fire Department put out the fire, but the police department didn’t learn about the vehicle until Oct. 1.

       Nelson’s final logged ride call around 11 p.m. was to pick up Simms and Lenburg, police said. They later found several 40-caliber bullets at Simms’ apartment, the same size that killed Nelson, charges allege.

       Detectives wrote after Nelson’s murder, the pair took the SUV up to Chicago where they “robbed several houses,” an affidavit states.

       Both Simms and Lenburg were charged with murder, robbery resulting in serious bodily injury, armed robbery, and arson.

       An online fundraising page for Nelson’s family described him as a dedicated father, youth mentor, husband and friend.

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