BANGOR — While autopsies on the three bodies found inside a charred vehicle early Monday morning are conducted in Augusta to determine the cause of death and the identity of the victims, Bangor police are working to identify a person seen in a surveillance camera running away from the burning car.
“We’re trying to determine who that person in the video is,” Bangor police Sgt. Paul Edwards said Tuesday morning.
The burning car was discovered by a woman on her way to work at about 3:30 a.m. Monday in the back parking lot of Automatic Distributors, located at 20 Target Industrial Circle. After the flames were extinguished, firefighters found inside three bodies that were burned beyond recognition. No one was in the driver’s seat, according to photos taken by the Bangor Daily News on Monday.
A person is visible on surveillance images taken from Automatic Distributors.
“They did see one person running away,” employee Gary Shaw said Monday morning.
In addition, Bangor resident Shannon Lee, who believes the father of her daughter and the sister of his girlfriend were in the car, said she has been asked by police to review the store’s video images.
She said Monday night that police also asked if her 7-year-old daughter could supply a DNA sample, which she said she would do Tuesday when reviewing the video.
“They said it’s not a very good quality” video, Lee said of the nighttime video images of the car engulfed in fire.
Police are still very interested in speaking to anyone who may have seen the white 2001 Pontiac four-door sedan with Rhode Island plates anytime over the weekend, even if they didn’t know the people inside, Edwards said.
“This is the car three people were dead inside — it’s important,” he said. “If anybody has seen that car, if we can know where it was — that would be helpful.”
On Tuesday morning, the charred Pontiac remained where it was discovered a day earlier. Two police officers were guarding it and a yellow police line barred onlookers from getting too close.
Edwards said the store’s video would be released to the public only if its use could further the investigation.
Those with information about the ongoing investigation may call the Bangor Police Department at 947-7382. The department’s anonymous tip line can be reached by pressing extension 6.
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