Police Seeking Relatives of Burned Slaying Victims

Investigators were searching Tuesday for the relatives of two men whose charred bodies were found inside a burning car, authorities said.

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Detectives have identified the men but are withholding their names pending notification of family members, “which looks like it may take a while, “ Police Lt. Ted Labahn said.

The bodies were discovered about 10:20 p.m. Sunday after residents in an apartment complex heard an explosion and saw heavy smoke billowing from the back seat of a car in an alley near West Casa Grande Avenue. After bringing the fire under control, firefighters found two bodies in the back seat.

The fire was confined to the back seat, investigators said, adding that it appeared the men were killed at another location, then brought to the alley. Detectives would not say what was used in setting the fire.

“I can tell you that they were not killed in the fire,” Labahn said, “And we are looking for the actual site of the homicide but we have not located it.”

Investigators remained tight-lipped Tuesday as they worked around the clock to solve the double homicide. They declined to discuss a possible motive. “We’ve narrowed it down to several possibilities, but we’re withholding information on that until the investigation is completed,” Labahn said. “We don’t want to jeopardize the case.”

Residents of the apartment complex were still shaken Tuesday over the violence that shattered their Memorial Day weekend.

Jeannean Burlace, who lives next to the alley where the bodies were found, said she thought it was by chance that the car was set ablaze near her home.

“I think they were looking for a dark place to dump the bodies and it could have been anywhere,” said Burlace, whose car and garage had been broken into recently.

“I know people don’t ever expect those things to happen in their neighborhood, but let’s face it, it does. Just look at the 14-year-old kid who was found in a million-dollar neighborhood,” she said, referring to Carl Dan Claes, whose body was found earlier this month dumped along a dirt path in Lemon Heights. Four teen-agers were arrested in connection to the slaying.

“If it happens there, why wouldn’t it happen here?”

Burlace said one of her neighbors spent a sleepless night Monday and another is talking about moving.