WILSON COUNTY, Texas – A burning body was found Wednesday night along a country road south of Poth in Wilson County.
The discovery was made around 9:30 p.m. by a couple driving along County Road 202. Wilson County Sheriff Joe Tackitt said the couple saw something unusual under an oak tree along the road, about a mile east of Highway 181.
"(They saw) what looked to be a fire on the side of the road,” he said. “They stopped, man gets out and he says, 'It's a body.'"
Tackitt said the body was burned beyond recognition. Investigators think the body is that of a man.
He said the man called 911 then told his wife to go home and get some water. He said the couple had extinguished the fire by the time deputies arrived. Any clothing or other identifying information the man may have had on him had been destroyed by the fire, Tackitt said.
At the scene Thursday morning, the patch of burned grass was still visible. A few steps from there, between two oddly placed tree branches, was what appeared to be a small blood stain. Tackitt said detectives don’t know whether the man was killed at the scene or if he may have still been alive when the fire started.
"(Detectives) couldn't smell anything as far as accelerants,” he said. “We're going to check with some of the convenience stores around and see if anybody came in kind of late and bought a gallon of gas."
Tackitt said an autopsy should be completed Thursday afternoon.