HARTFORD — Police have confirmed that the body discovered inside a burning car belonged to a 62-year-old male Hartford resident, who died as a result of the fire.
On Sept. 9, local police and fire officials responded to a report of a car fire toward the back of the Hartford Point Cemetery.
Cemetery Sexton Ken Parker, a witness on the scene amid emergency response efforts that evening, told the Valley News that the subcompact car had been “totally burned out.”
The following day, crews worked to extract a body from the burned vehicle, as confirmed by Hartford Police Cpl. Simon Keeling at the cemetery that morning.
While the results of an autopsy by the Vermont Office of the Chief Medical Examiner confirmed the victim died of thermal injuries, the manner of death is pending investigation, according to a Hartford Police news release.
“Confirming the identity of the victim is an important piece,” Lt. William Furnari, of the Hartford Police Community Outreach Division, said Friday by phone. He declined to share further details regarding the progress of the case.
Officials have opted not to disclose the name of the victim at this time, but said in the release that the fire was an isolated incident. Hartford Police are still the primary investigating agency for the resident’s death, while Vermont State Police continue to investigate the fire.
