Contractor hired to move monuments finds $200K Lambo destroyed

BATON ROUGE - A pricey supercar belonging to the Baton Rouge contractor who was hired to move several Confederate monuments in New Orleans was found burned to a crisp Tuesday morning.

The attorney for David Mahler said his client's Lamborghini, valued at more than $200,000, was destroyed by fire while parked outside his office at H&O Investments in Baton Rouge.

St. George Fire spokesperson Eldon Ledoux confirmed that they worked a vehicle fire at that location. Ledoux said investigators were still looking into the fire to see what, or who, caused it.

Mahler is a contractor with the city of New Orleans and accepted work to move Confederate monuments from their prominent public spaces following a vote by the city council to declare them nuisances. Mahler said he later received death threats for accepting the contract and that he was withdrawing from the job, according federal court documents.

A post on the Coffee & Cars Biloxi Facebook page said Mahler's wife told them about the fire and provided an image of the destroyed car, which they called the "Psycho Hurricane." Tessa Mahler said the fire was reported around 1 a.m., and they still weren't sure why the fire was set.

"I don't know if this has anything to do with a job he was recently CONTRACTED to do and decided not to take or if there is another reason but it makes me sad that someone would go this far," she said.