FRANKLIN COUNTY — Franklin County officials await autopsy and DNA testing results to confirm the identity of a person whose burned body was found in a burning car at the end of an isolated county road over the weekend.
Investigators have an idea who the person might be but won’t release that information unless it’s confirmed, said Sheriff Anthony Boen. The car and body were found Saturday afternoon at the end of White Valley Road northwest of Ozark, about 3 miles from the Crawford County line.
DNA samples drawn from people who are believed to be family members were sent to the state medical examiner’s office in Little Rock, Boen said. He said he hopes to receive a report from the medical examiner Wednesday or Thursday.
Deputies and firefighters responded about 1 p.m. Saturday after receiving reports of smoke in the remote and heavily wooded area of Franklin County, Boen said.
Investigators couldn’t identify the make or model of the small passenger car because of the amount of fire damage. There were signs that the car had been stuck, and the spinning of tires or heat from the car engine may have ignited the tinder dry vegetation around the car, Boen said.
“The dry conditions, we think, played a big, big part in this,” Boen said.
He said he believes the fire was accidental.
Firefighters with two volunteer departments were called out to extinguish the blaze that spread into the woods around the car fire, he said.
Northwest Arkansas, Pages 12 on 06/26/2012