An unidentified man was found dead earlier this week in a burned-out vehicle near St. Albert Trail and 156 Street and the Edmonton Police Service is calling the death a homicide.
Police are also desperately seeking the public’s help to try and find more information about the death. They believe the victim was placed there sometime in the past two weeks, which is also when the car was set alight.
“We are hoping that people will be able to tell us if they saw the smoke, smelled the smoke or even saw the fire anytime over the last two weeks,” said Det. Dan Jones with the Edmonton Police Service.
The man’s body was found in the burned out 2010 Chevrolet Impala on Wednesday around 2 p.m. Jones said police believe they know who the man is, but because of the extent of the fire and damage to the body, they are waiting for medical tests to positively confirm the identity.
“We have a preliminary identification of who the victim might be, but we have not been able to confirm that,” said Jones.
If the deceased is who police believe it is, Jones said, the man is known to police.
The fire, which he said was definitely deliberately set, completely consumed the vehicle, burning everything on the vehicle that was flammable.
“It was the most significantly burned-out vehicle that I have ever seen. There was nothing left of it,” Jones said.
Jones declined to say why they police believe the case is a homicide or be more specific about the cause of death.
He said, right now, they can only say that the crime happened in the last two weeks, but they are hopeful someone from the public could help them narrow the timeframe.
He said the property, which is located next to the ChristCity church, is fairly isolated and it would have been impossible for anyone to see the vehicle.
“You couldn’t see the vehicle from the road and you couldn’t see the road from where the vehicle was.”
Despite those challenges, he is hoping someone may have seen or smelled smoke, giving police an idea about when the fire was set.
Anyone who saw the fire or noticed anything else suspicious in the area is being asked to call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477 or the EPS tip line at 780-423-4567.
