3 found dead in burning car in Bangor, Maine parking lot

BANGOR, Maine - Flames coming from a car where three bodies were discovered early Monday were so intense that it was difficult at times to tell what was burning, a witness said.

Radio announcer Kat Walls dialed 911 shortly after 3:30 a.m. after she saw the flames while on her way to work. She kept her distance because of loud crackling.

"It was fully engulfed when I saw it. There was lots of popping and small booms," Walls said. "It was hard to tell it was a car at times because it was so engulfed."

The bodies were discovered after firefighters doused the flames and the deaths were declared suspicious by the Bangor Police Department. The state's deputy chief medical examiner was on the scene in a parking lot in an industrial park to begin removing and identifying the bodies.

The car was parked near a business called Automatic Distributors, a parts and equipment wholesaler for all-terrain vehicles, snowmobiles, off-road motorcycles and other outdoor activities.

Police were checking surveillance video from Automatic Distributors as well as other businesses in the industrial park, Bangor police Sgt. Paul Edwards told WZON-AM.

The blaze was hot enough to burst the car's windows and pop its tires, leaving the charred remains of a sedan with its hood up, witnesses said.

Walls said that it never occurred to her that people had died and that she learned about the bodies when a detective arrived during her morning show at 97.1 the Bear.

"It was horrifying -- the idea that I sat there and waited for the fire department while people were burning inside. I'm struggling with it, actually. It feels horrible," she said.