BANGOR — Bangor police sought Tuesday to identify a person seen on a surveillance video running from a burning car where three bodies were later recovered, while the state medical examiner’s office began autopsies on the bodies.
Video showed someone walking or running away from the fire, Bangor police Sgt. Paul Edwards confirmed.
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“At this point, we’d like to know who was in the video and we’re working to identify that person,” he said.
Firefighters made the grisly discovery of the bodies early Monday after dousing the flames in the parking lot of a business in Bangor.
On Tuesday, the blackened car, its windows blown out and its tires flat, remained where it was discovered. The car won’t be moved until the autopsies are completed, and it’s unclear how long that will take, Edwards said. The car had Rhode Island license plates.
The three autopsies in Augusta were aimed at determining the identities of the victims as well as cause of death, but the attorney general’s office ordered the outcome withheld from the public. The attorney general’s office imposed the order because of the pending investigation, a spokeswoman said.
Shannon Lee of Bangor said she fears her 7-year-old daughter’s father was one of the victims. She said an acquaintance told her he was seen getting into a car with Rhode Island license plates earlier in the evening. Lee said authorities have not given her any answers, although she has offered to give them a DNA swab of her daughter’s cheek if it will help in the identification process.
Police have been mum on the investigation other than to say the deaths are considered suspicious. Authorities in Rhode Island referred questions about the vehicle to Bangor police.
In addition to the video showing someone running from the scene, there is another video showing the headlights of cars passing just minutes before the glow of flames was seen. The 911 call came in at 3:33 a.m.
“Whatever cars people claimed to see in the video, we’d like to know who was driving them and who was in it,” Edwards said.
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