MT. COMFORT — Officials from the Hancock County Sheriff’s Department have identified the body found in a barn early this morning following a fire on a property in Buck Creek Township.
The man has been identified as William Parker Jr., 58, Indianapolis. Captain Robert Harris said Parker’s body was discovered inside a burned out barn, under a car around 7 a.m., after fire officials from Buck Creek Township worked for about 35 minutes to extinguish the flames.
“We treat every fire death as if it were a criminal death until we can cross the t’s and dot the i’s,” Harris said. “If there was any criminal intent, we’ll identify that as soon as we can.”
The fire was reported shortly before 6 a.m. at a property in the 3400 block of North County Road 400W. A home and a barn are at that location; the barn was on fire when crews arrived.
Karen Coppedge, who lived on the property as a tenant with Parker, told authorities she saw and spoke to him around 2 a.m. He was working on her car brakes in the barn, she said. Parker told Coppedge he might go out to get a car part, but she didn’t know if he did or not. That was the last time she saw him, she told police.
“He was found under the car,” Harris said. “Brake fluid is highly flammable, but we still don’t know what officially happened just yet.”
