Sept. 22, 2004 – The charred remains of a teenager found in a burning car Monday were positively identified as an Estate Concordia teenager, police said Wednesday.
The body was so badly burned it took authorities more than a day to identify the remains as Shama Francis, 19, Sgt. Thomas Hannah, a police spokesman, said.
Firefighters found the body in a flaming car near a St. Croix beachfront in Campo Rico, outside Frederiksted.
Police have not established a motive for the killing or cause of death and said the car-fire that marred Francis' remains was intentionally set to conceal evidence surrounding the homicide, Hannah said.
The owner of the vehicle and Francis' relatives on the island helped identify the body, Hannah said, but would not say to whom the burned car belonged.
Police are still investigating.
Francis did not have a criminal record nor was he known to associate with the St. Croix gangs who sometimes burn a vehicle used in a crime, Hannah said.
Francis' death is the 25th homicide in the territory of 110,000. There were 33 last year.
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