NEAH BAY — A case involving a burned body found Saturday morning in a vehicle that was destroyed by fire on the Makah tribal reservation has been turned over to the FBI’s Poulsbo office, said Jasper Bruner, tribal director of public safety.
“It was totally unidentifiable,” Bruner said of the burned adult.
There were no ongoing missing person cases that might apply to the case, he said.
“We have no idea of who it might be,” he added. “That’s what the FBI is working on.”
Bruner would not comment on what kind of vehicle was found, where it was found or where in the vehicle the body was located, referring inquiries to the FBI.
A call to the FBI’s Poulsbo office was not returned.
Ayn Dietrich-Williams, spokeswoman for the FBI’s Seattle office, said she did not have information on the case.
Mark Nichols, Clallam County prosecuting attorney-coroner, said the King County Medical Examiner’s Office conducted an autopsy on the body Tuesday.
Nichols invoked the county’s jurisdiction for the autopsy “to determine the manner and cause of death,” Nichols said.
“We defer to law enforcement on the investigative front.”
The medical examiner’s office report should be completed by the end of this month, Nichols said.
“We would certainly hope” that the body would be identified by then, he said.
Dental records also will be employed, as well as DNA “and everything they can do forensically to figure out who this is,” Nichols said.
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Senior Staff Writer Paul Gottlieb can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 55650, or at pgottlieb@ peninsuladailynews.com.
