Charred Body Found Inside Burning ATM Service Vehicle : Crime: Authorities have not identified the remains, but the wife of a bank machine technician missing since Friday says she believes it is him.

Police on Sunday found a charred body inside a car last known to have been driven by an automated teller machine technician who has been missing since Friday, authorities said.

Because the body was badly burned, police could not positively identify it as that of Robert T. Walsh, 59, who vanished in Orange while servicing ATM machines with an undisclosed amount of cash in an unmarked Wells Fargo company car.

However, Walsh’s wife, Janice, said Sunday, “It’s him, it’s him.”

“I can’t talk about it right now,” she sobbed.

At 11:15 a.m. Sunday, the Orange fire and police departments responded to a call of an explosion and car fire in an alley behind a strip mall at the 3500 block of East Chapman Avenue in Orange, said Lt. Timm Browne of the Orange Police Department. Upon arrival, they found a 1993 Ford Escort engulfed in flames.

“The Fire Department put out the fire quickly,” Browne said. “Shortly after that, police officers determined that the car was owned by Wells Fargo, and that it was the same vehicle that had been reported missing.”

The interior of the vehicle was burned, and it appeared that a flammable liquid was used to start the fire, Browne said.

Witnesses told police that they saw a pudgy, white man about 50 years old, with gray hair and glasses, running from the vehicle about the time it caught on fire. Witnesses said the man, described as 5-foot-10 to 5-foot-11 and about 180 pounds, then dashed into a car being driven away from the scene, police said.

Although police are searching for the man, they are not calling him a suspect. They also are continuing to search for Walsh, described as white, 5-foot-11, 175 pounds, with blond hair and blue eyes. He was least seen wearing a blue Wells Fargo uniform.

“I don’t want to give anybody the impression that we’re going to give up on finding Mr. Walsh,” Browne said. “We’ll look until the body is identified.”

Walsh, who worked as a Fullerton police officer from 1961 to 1966, was last seen about 2:45 p.m. Friday. He was reported missing by his family after he failed to return home that night, police said.

“I got a call from one of his sons at 11:30 p.m., saying he had not come home and that this was totally out of character,” said Philip Goehring, a former police chief in Fullerton who has been friends with Walsh since 1961. “They explained to me that Wells Fargo had already tried to find evidence to see if there was some record of any trouble at any of his stops.”

Goehring said Walsh’s three sons also had been driving along their father’s work route trying to locate him.

Police wouldn’t indicate the details of Walsh’s job at Wells Fargo because they said it might pose a danger to Wells Fargo employees with similar jobs. Officials at Wells Fargo also would not comment about the case.

However, Browne did indicate that there was a safe in the car. But he said the car was so badly burned that it was impossible for police to tell whether the safe was open or whether anything was taken.

Goehring said Walsh never expressed any fear about his job at Wells Fargo, and chose not to carry a weapon.

“The way he looked at things, he didn’t want to confront people,” said Goehring, who retired from the Fullerton Police Department in 1992. “In his mind, he felt he might be safer not carrying a weapon.”

As a police officer, Goehring said Walsh had a stellar reputation and was regarded as someone who could always be depended upon.

“He was very, very savvy,” Goehring said. “He would use a lot of wisdom and experience to get the job done without having to be aggressive.”

Walsh was forced to take a medical retirement in 1966, after injuring his knee on the job, Goehring said.

Walsh recently separated from his wife, who lives in a Newport Beach mobile home park.

“He’s the best guy in the world,” said Mike Stephens, who lived next door to Walsh for 12 years. “He was liked by everyone.”