Authorities are investigating a truck fire that occurred Saturday in Richmond with a body in the car, but Scott MacMaster, chief of the town’s Police Department, said the fire might have been an act of suicide.
“There’s a lot of evidence pointing towards that,” MacMaster said later Saturday morning. There’s “nothing that leads us to believe it was anything other than that.”
Richmond firefighters and police responded at 3:30 a.m. to a report about the fire, which occurred on an unpaved section of Lincoln Street, and discovered the remains inside.
The Office of State Fire Marshal and the Maine State Police Major Crimes Unit are investigating the origins of the blaze and the cause of the victim’s death, MacMaster said.
“Police are attempting to establish the circumstances that led to the death,” MacMaster said, adding that the dead person’s identity is being withheld until an autopsy is performed today.
“At this point we have concluded it is an isolated incident,” he said. “There is no threat to public safety.”
A call to Sgt. Joel Davis of the fire marshal’s office was not returned Saturday afternoon.
Charles Eichacker — 621-5642
Twitter: @ceichacker
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