Amador County – The Amador County Sheriff’s Office announced the investigation of the death of an unidentified person whose body was found badly burned in a vehicle after a suspected crash and fire off of Steiner Road. 

Undersheriff Jim Wegner released details of the death investigation in a statement Thursday, which said that at about 7:35 a.m. Wednesday, March 30, “the Amador County Sheriff’s Office received a report of a burned vehicle on Steiner Road which may contain a body.”

Amador County Sheriff’s Deputies responded to the scene near the intersection of Steiner Road and Oakstream Road where they located a burned 1994 Isuzu Trooper which appeared to have been involved in a low speed collision with a fence. The driver’s side doors of the SUV were resting against the fence. In the rear passenger portion of the vehicle, Sheriff’s Deputies located burned human remains.

The Undersheriff’s statement said “Amador County Sheriff’s Detectives responded to conduct a death investigation. The investigation determined the vehicle was currently owned and driven by a 37-year-old male worker at a local winery who was last seen by witnesses the evening before and who was reported to be intoxicated.”

California Department of Fire investigators “were asked to assist with the investigation as it related to the cause of the vehicle fire. The Cal Fire Investigators reported that the burn indicators were consistent with an accident and there was no immediate evidence indicating the fire was intentionally set, however evidentiary samples were taken and are being analyzed at the California Department of Justice.” The California Highway Patrol was requested to conduct a vehicle collision investigation.

ACSO’s statement said: “Due to the severity of the burns to the decedent, Sheriff’s Detectives are utilizing DNA obtained from a relative in San Joaquin County to confirm the identity. A forensic pathologist conducted an autopsy of the decedent and determined the cause of death to be ‘Total Body Thermal Injury’.”

The statement said there “was no evidence of gunshot wounds, sharp force or blunt force trauma located on the decedent during the autopsy.” This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.