2 bodies found in burning SUV in Fort Worth
Two bodies were found Tuesday evening in the back of an SUV that was ablaze in a secluded area in east Fort Worth not far from where another body was found burning about a month ago.
At just before 6 p.m., firefighters saw smoke billowing from a vacant lot at 5736 Wilbarger St., near East Loop 820, and went to investigate, said firefighter Kyle Clay, a Fire Department spokesman.
The bodies were “fully engulfed in flames,” so badly charred that investigators could not tell their ages or genders, police Sgt. J.M. Dunn said.
“All we could tell about the bodies is that they do appear to be human,” Dunn said.
They were found in the rear of the SUV where the last row of seats should be, he said. The vehicle appeared to be a Cadillac Escalade.
It was parked about 200 yards from the road, in a spot that could only be accessed by driving around a locked gate and over a fence to the left, police said.
It does not appear that the SUV crashed before the fire. Dunn said it was too soon to tell if foul play was involved.
“About three weeks or a month ago we had a burnt body found about a mile and a half down the road,” he said.
The body of Brittany “Pear” Chappell, 30, was found Sept. 28 after a patrol officer saw a grass fire in a remote spot near the western edge of Lake Arlington in the 3500 block of South Cravens Road.
On Friday a fourth suspect was arrested in connection with the beating, suffocating and burning of Chappell, a Bedford mom who was reported missing Oct. 9.
One of the suspects told police that Chappell was wrapped in a carpet and transported to the remote area via a tan SUV and burned after she was beaten and suffocated.
In an unrelated call across town, police were dispatched at 6:12 p.m. Tuesday to a shooting at a home in the 1700 block of Southcrest Drive, just north of Interstate 20. Officers found four people wounded — a female who had been shot by her child’s father, along with three other adults — after two separate altercations, said officer Tamara Peña, a police spokeswoman. Non of the injuries were considered life-threatening injuries.
Monica S. Nagy: 817-390-7792, @MonicaNagyFWST
This story was originally published October 27, 2015 at 8:27 PM with the headline "2 bodies found in burning SUV in Fort Worth."