SAGUENAY, QUE. -- Saguenay Police (SPS) are investigating a suspicious death after finding a body in a burned vehicle Saturday morning in Jonquiere.
SPS spokesman Bruno Cormier said that the emergency services first believed it was a simple fire when they were alerted to smoke above Mont-Jacob at around 10:45 a.m.
Once on the scene, however, firefighters noticed that a person was in the vehicle on fire in the parking lot next to the Centre culturel du Mont-Jacob.
Investigators and crime scene technicians were dispatched to the scene.
"We are at the beginning of the investigation. We're analyzing the scene. We are trying to understand what happened. All the doors are open now," said Cormier.
The body will be sent to Montreal to be examined at the Laboratoire de sciences judiciaires et de médecine légale on rue Parthenais.
It is not known whether the occupant of the vehicle was alive when the fire started.
The burned vehicle must also be analyzed by the SPS.
The police have not ruled out the possibility of suicide or a criminal act.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 29, 2020.
