Identified! CA - Malibu, man found in burned car, Aug'08 - Douglas Lopez

TOPANGA CANYON, Calif. -- A man's body has been found inside a burned-out vehicle near Malibu.

Los Angeles County sheriff's Deputy Ricardo Pedroza says firefighters responded to a report of a vehicle fire Tuesday night at Topanga Canyon Boulevard and Pacific Coast Highway.

Pedroza says firefighters found the body inside the car when the fire was extinguished. The fire also sparked nearby brush, but firefighters quickly doused the flames.

Arson and homicide detectives are investigating.

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Based on a statement by Sgt. Martin Rodriguez to ABC 7, “Deputies had the trunk lid forced open, and the apparent human remains of an adult were located inside the vehicle.”

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The Los Angeles County
Coroner’s office has
identified the body that was
found burned in a vehicle
near the intersection of
Pacific Coast Highway and
Topanga Canyon Boulevard.
The body was identified
as Douglas Lopez, 20, of
Los Angeles. A preliminary
autopsy was performed and
the cause of death is
pending further tests, according
to a coroner’s
spokesperson.
“There were no bullet
holes or blunt force, but we
don’t know if he was
drugged or hung or what,”
the spokesperson noted,
saying he did not have
information about if Lopez
could have been alive or
dead before the vehicle
burned.

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The victim, Douglas Lopez, who resided in the downtown area of Los Angeles, was also the owner of the 2002 Black Volkswagen Jetta in which his body was found, according to Sheriff's Sgt. Joe Ramirez, who added that Lopez had purchased the vehicle but never formally moved the registration into his own name.

Sgt. Ramirez stated that the cause of death has been deferred by the coroner's office, pending the results of toxicology screenings. However, added Ramirez, the car fire, which also burned roughly an acre of surrounding chapparal before fire crews quickly extinguished it, "never reached the trunk. The body wasn't burned. ... We are investigating the case as if it was a murder

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