Pike County sheriff’s officials have confirmed that the charred remains of a person found in a burned vehicle on Fernwood Road Tuesday are those of a female, and the case has officially been classified as a homicide.
Chief Deputy Steve Rushing confirmed the findings Friday afternoon, just several hours after he also released the identity of the vehicle’s registered owner, 44-year-old Janice Blackwell Brown.
Up until Friday, officials were unable to determine a gender. The severe incendiarism prevented investigators from gathering basic anatomical identifiers on the scene Tuesday.
Previously, the Sheriff’s Department had not confirmed foul play, but they were treating the case as a homicide.
“We’ll always approach it from the standpoint of a homicide investigation until we see something different,” Rushing said Tuesday, shortly after they discovered the body.
He said the State Crime Lab should be able to reveal the identity of the victim once DNA testing concludes.
“We’re steady working on it,” Rushing said. “It just takes some time.”
So far, however, the Sheriff’s Department has been unable to locate or contact Brown, who lived in Pike County and owned the burned SUV, described as a maroon-colored Mercury Mountaineer.
The case began when deputies received a call at 3:46 a.m. Tuesday after a passerby spotted a burned sport utility vehicle in the 7100 area of Fernwood Road, between Union Church Road and Pike 93 Central.
“If somebody can put us in contact with (Brown), we’d really appreciate it, Rushing said.” Anyone with information is asked to call the sheriff’s office at 783-6767 or Crimestoppers at 684-0033.
