SAN ANTONIO – A possible piece of evidence in the case of a man burned alive has been found not far from the site on San Antonio’s East Side where police discovered his body.
A crew clearing brush beneath a bridge in the 400 block of Yucca Street Friday morning stumbled upon a gas can. A worker, Shawn Lam, said it had gotten stuck in the bucket of his co-worker's backhoe and they pulled it out, not realizing what it was. KSAT 12 News crew recognized that it could be evidence tied to the case and called police.
Lam said he also noticed a couple of burned areas in the grass, but didn’t think much of that either -- at first.
"I mean, we're in a rough part of town," he said. “It's just a burned spot. It could've been kids out here playing. It could've been burning trash. You never know."
"Now we know the whole story. It kind of, it makes you wonder," Lam said.
In reality, the scorched area was the residue left behind at the scene of what San Antonio police believe was a murder. They said officers responded to a call about a grass fire there around 9:15 p.m. Thursday, but instead found the body of a man who apparently had been set on fire.
Sgt. David Berrigan said it appears the man was still alive when someone doused him with gasoline.
"Because of some of the pattern in the burning grass, it appeared maybe he was trying to get up somewhere. He was probably not deceased when he was set (afire)," Berrigan said. "It's just absolutely heinous how someone could do that to another human being."
Police said the man, who was in his 20s or 30s, had no identification on him but did have some distinctive tattoos on his body. They believe the tattoos could help them identify him. As of 11 a.m. Friday, the Bexar County Medical Examiner's Office still did not know his name.
Berrigan said witnesses gave police a description of a possible getaway car, a black Chevy Tahoe. However, as of Friday morning, police had not made any arrests.
Police were unable to say right away whether the gas can found by the workers was tied to the case.