Body found in fire pit of North Carolina home

CARY, N.C. (WTVD) - First responders arriving at a home Sunday morning initially contacted the homeowner, only for him to vanish.

“The homeowner’s just gone back inside the camper. I lost track of him, don’t know where he’s at,” a first responder is heard on a recording saying.

Then they made a discovery in the backyard.

‘Chief, we came out here for an outside fire. In the burn pile, under cardboard, looks like there’s a body in the pile,” a first responder is heard on a recording saying.

Police say there was a badly burned body in the fire pit, and as for the homeowner, he was found in an RV with a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

Police said what happened is disturbing.

“This is not a typical event that happens in Cary,” said Sgt. Kenric Alexander, Cary police public information officer. “We’re typically ranked as one of the safest cities, and we’re very proud of that distinction. However, that does not mean we’re immune to things happening here. But something of this nature (is) definitely outside of the norm, so it raising a lot of questions not only within the community but also at the police department.”

The homeowner is at the hospital for injuries said to be serious.

Police said they are hoping an autopsy will shine some light on whose body was found in the fire pit.

“It was so charred, we are unable to identify the gender, the race of the remains,” Alexander said. “So we are hoping with it being sent to the medical examiner’s office, that they can give us that actual identity, and more than that, we are hoping they can give us a time of death and cause of death, which is vital information.”