NASHVILLE - Police have charged a man with criminal homicide after a burned body was found in a fire pit at a homeless camp in Nashville.

Nashville police say 52-year-old Jessie Scales walked into a gas station Saturday morning and told the clerk he had just killed someone.

Officers found the badly burned body of a man in a fire pit under an Interstate 65 overpass. Police said Scales acknowledged that he put the victim in the pit after he struck him multiple times with a shovel so he could take his money.

Scales and the victim are believed to be homeless. The victim was tentatively identified as a 57-year-old man.

The Associated Press could not determine whether Scales has a lawyer or if a court date has been scheduled.