PLATTE CITY, Mo. — Police discovered the body of a man inside a burned pick-up truck Friday morning in Platte City, Mo. The discovery came in the midst of twelve other vehicles set on fire in the area.
At 5:25 a.m. Platte City Police responded to the first car fire in the 1800 block of Wilkerson Dr. Then, approximately one and a half hours later, they were called out to a car fire at another location in the 2100 block of Catie Lane.
There they found the body of an adult man inside a white pickup truck that had also been set on fire.
Police believe the man they found dead inside the pickup is the same one who set fires to twelve vehicles. His identification has not been released.
Police said the man was in the driver’s seat of the pickup truck but was not the registered owner. There was no sign of trauma on the man and no weapons in the vehicle. The medical examiner has not yet determined the cause of death.
The wife of the owner of the truck told FOX 4 that her car was also set on fire. She and her husband carried only liability coverage on both vehicles.
Click here for pictures from the crime scene.
A neighbor said when he first stepped out of his home, he thought a bolt of lightning had struck the area.
“I thought it was a lightning strike, ’cause when I opened the door there was just a circle about this big, and just blown out. Then as the light came on I saw in the backseat there was another hole about this big right through the seat through the bottom and I just thought lightning, and it was smoking,” said Dave Connell
Below are tweets from @PlatteCoScanner:
https://twitter.com/#!/PlatteCoScanner/status/165434954468179968
https://twitter.com/#!/PlatteCoScanner/status/165429419337457664
https://twitter.com/#!/PlatteCoScanner/status/165422373716246528
