A suspicious death investigation is underway after a man’s body was found burned beyond recognition in a driveway in Philadelphia.
The grisly discovery came shortly after 3 a.m. Tuesday morning when police and firefighters arrived to douse the flames and found a man of unknown age “with severe burns laying in the driveway” in the Rhawnhurst neighborhood, officials said in a news release.
A gas can and spent matches were found next to the body.
The man was pronounced dead on the scene at 3:23 a.m. Investigators have not indicated yet whether foul play is suspected and it’s unknown if the person was killed before being set on fire. An official cause of death is pending an autopsy.
Neighbors told ABC 6 Philadelphia the house had been sitting vacant for several years but was recently renovated and put up for sale.
A person who called 911 heard the sound of the fire and went outside. He approached the flames intending to put the blaze out before realizing there was a body.
“I got terrified,” a man who did not want to be identified out of fear for his own safety told the Philadelphia Inquirer. “I just ran away.”
A neighboring fence appeared to have been damaged by the fire but the blaze did not spread further.
