UPDATE: Body Found in Burning Car in Coonskin Park; No Foul Play Suspected
Font Size:
UPDATE 1/11/12 @ 6 p.m.KANAWHA COUNTY, W.Va. (WSAZ) — Investigators turned to security cameras to help solve a case of a woman’s body found in the back of a car set on fire in Coonskin Park.
Jeff Hutchinson is the director of Parks and Recreation in Kanawha County.
“There wasn’t anything we could have done,” Hutchinson said.
However, Hutchinson says cameras helped solve the situation. there are not cameras throughout Coonskin Park, but there are outside of it.
“There was some video taken by the National Guard because it comes through the base, the car, when it comes in,” Hutchinson said.
Kent Carper with the Kanawha County Commission supports adding security cameras inside the park.
“Anytime people come to a place they bring problems with them. You can’t have enough security cameras,” Carper said.
In the past year, new security cameras have been placed all around the Kanawha County Courthouse. It’s helped to solve several cases of crime.
Chief Deputy Johnny Rutherford with the Kanawha County Sheriff’s Department knows the difference they made in solving this case, as well.
“Oh, it helps tremendously. we were able to look at the vehicles as they come in and out. see if more than one person was possibly in the vehicle that burned. so we use it in many aspects of investigations,” Rutherford said.
“When you go out now, you should anticipate that you’re being videoed,” Carper said.
Carper says most of the current security funding at Coonskin Park is going to officers who patrol the grounds. however, if additional funding becomes available, he would support adding security cameras.
UPDATE 1/11/12 @ 2 p.m.CHARLESTON, W.Va. (WSAZ) — it appears no criminal act led to a person’s death in Charleston.
The person was found in the back of a burned car in Coonskin Park in Charleston on Tuesday evening.
Sheriff’s deputies say the person has been identified, but they are not releasing the name out of respect for the family.
Keep clicking on WSAZ.com for the latest information.
UPDATE 1/10/12 @ 10:15 p.m.CHARLESTON, W.Va. (WSAZ) — Joggers noticed the red Pontiac car on fire late Tuesday afternoon, which later turned up a body in the backseat, Kanawha County Sheriff’s deputies tell WSAZ.com.
The joggers discovered the burning car about 4 p.m. in a parking lot next to the tennis courts at Coonskin Park. it took firefighters about 10 minutes to put out the fire.
The medical examiner was at the scene, but so far it is unknown if the victim is a man or woman — or how the car caught fire.
“We’re collecting evidence at the scene. We’re taking interviews of individuals who saw the vehicle before the fire,” says Johnny Rutherford, chief deputy of the Kanawha Sheriff’s Office.
Investigators spent a few hours at the park Tuesday. That part of the park was closed for the rest of the afternoon.
Park Police Chief R.L. Jones says after talking with his officers, he estimates one of them passed by the area shortly before the car caught fire.
There are no security cameras in the park.
Police interviewed the joggers who came upon the blaze, but are asking anyone else with information to call the Kanawha County Sheriff’s Department.
ORIGINAL STORY 1/10/12 @ 4:53 p.m.CHARLESTON, W.Va. (WSAZ) — a body has been found in a burning car along Coonskin Drive in Charleston.
Dispatchers say the car was found near the tennis courts inside Coonskin Park about 4:30 p.m. Tuesday.
The Kanawha County Sheriff’s Department is on their way to the scene.
No other details are being released.
We have a crew on the scene.
Keep clicking on WSAZ.com for the latest information.
Latest Comments
Posted by: what the? on Jan 12, 2012 at 04:17 PM I can’t believe how much more lost i am about what had happened in this "solved" case after reading this! Posted by: get Real on Jan 11, 2012 at 11:00 PM If carper wants cameras placed in all areas of the parks let him pay for it out of his pocket. People wonder why we are in the shape we are, please remember these things at election time. That is OUR money he is wanting to waste. Posted by: Chz burger Eddie on Jan 11, 2012 at 10:53 PM this article does not say anything detailed about what happened… It’s a case of bs… No foul play, but why is there a burned females body in the BACK seat of a car?? Cpd is ignorant toward investigation… To put it bluntly, there’s no common sense in their thought process. this article talks more about installation of cameras more than the actual incident. Ignorance is bliss, or better yet an easy paycheck for the investigating party. Wtf… Wtf?!?
