Investigators were back on scene Thursday afternoon combing through the burnt out shell of a car found engulfed in flames with a body inside on Swan Avenue in Worcester late Wednesday evening.
It was a gruesome discovery made by firefighters trying to put out the flames.
"When they got there they found the car was fully involved, extinguished the car and then we would normally get in there and pull the seats apart and do a little of what we would call overhaul, but as soon as they got up close to the car they discovered what appeared to be a body inside the car," Deputy Fire Chief John Sullivan said.
Some people who live nearby were in disbelief.
"It's scary, definitely scary," said one woman who lives down the street.
"I just saw a cop go by yesterday with the lights on, I mean we hear sirens around all the time but I didn't know that it was something so close so that's crazy," Gabrielle Wilson who also lives nearby said.
"I thought it was pretty bad, did someone go off the road and then the car caught on fire or did someone do this to someone?" Worcester resident Jim Frederickson said.
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Investigators aren't saying whether they believe foul play was involved, but fire officials say this area surrounded by woods, with few homes, no street lights and a canopy of trees is often used as a dumping ground.
"There's a lot of dumping that goes on up there as well, it's out of sight, it's very remote up there so if you want to get rid of something so to speak in terms of trash or a stolen car it's not unusual for it to appear in that area just because of the remote nature where it is," Deputy Chief Sullivan said.
