FAYETTE (AP) — The bodies of a man and woman were found burned inside an 18-wheeler in Mississippi’s Jefferson County.
Sheriff James Bailey said the remains are believed to be that of Ronald Merritt, 45, and his wife, Carisa Merritt, 42.
Coroner Ricky McDonald said official identification of the remains is pending autopsies at the state crime lab and DNA tests will be run to determine if the bodies are indeed the Merritts.
“There is reason to believe it is them,” McDonald said. “Neither of them have been seen or heard from since Sunday.”
The bodies were discovered in a tractor-trailer parked outside a hunting camp in the county’s Church Hill community on Sunday around 7 a.m., The Natchez Democrat reported.
Bailey said a witness told investigators that he blew his horn at an 18-wheeler to be let in to the hunting camp before daybreak on Sunday and saw the driver move the truck to let the witness by. The witness heard what he believed to be a gunshot, just before 7 a.m., followed by an explosion about two minutes later, Bailey said.
As the witness was leaving the camp later that day, he said he saw human remains burned up inside the truck and called 911, Bailey said.
The cause of the deaths is still under investigation, Bailey said.