By Evan Bevins

Special to the Times

MINERAL WELLS, W.Va. —  An unidentified body was found in a burning car early Thursday morning on Badgley Fork Road.

Who the individual was, how he or she came to be there and how he or she died remained unanswered questions as the day continued.

“The condition of the body was such that we can’t make any determination as to identity or anything,” Assistant Wood County Prosecutor Pat Lefebure said.

According to a supervisor at the Wood County 911 Center, the fire was reported around 3 a.m. Thursday. The Mineral Wells Volunteer Fire Department and Wood County Sheriff’s Department responded.

Mineral Wells Fire Chief Jay Parsons said the car had apparently been burning for a while.

“It didn’t take very long to put out,” he said.

A section of Badgley Fork Road remained closed until around 10 a.m. as deputy sheriffs, members of the Wood County Fire Investigation Team and a representative of the West Virginia Fire Marshal processed the scene.

From where the road was blocked up a hill on Badgley Fork Road, the burned car was visible, still partially on the road. It appeared to be silver or white in color.

Lefebure said he did not immediately have the make and model of the car available.

The body was sent to the state medical examiner’s office in Charleston for an autopsy and identification, Lefebure said.

Sgt. Larry Kearns of the Wood County Sheriff’s Department said the fire was reported at 3:05 a.m. and deputies were there by 3:15. They found a fully engulfed vehicle, a two-door Chrysler sedan, with a body inside, he said.

Investigators were at the scene into the late afternoon.