6/30/09 Three Rivers
 
By Doug Johnson
 
Tuesday, the burned out shell of an SUV was taken out a dirt road in the Three Rivers area south of Sunriver. It's explosion the night before, killing the driver, and shocking neighbors from the River Meadows Subdivision.
 
"Sitting there talking in the living room, heard a loud explosion followed by a couple more, saw the flames and called 9-1-1," says Dan Parker who lives close by.
 
"I heard big loud explosions, and I saw smoke," says Ashleigh, Parker's daughter.
 
Oregon State Police and Deschutes County Sheriff detectives looked for answers as to how it crashed and why it caught fire.
 
"To determine if this is a car accident or if there is some other crime which is associated with it," says Lt. Kevin Dizney with the Deschutes County Sheriff's office.
 
Detectives say they don't see any evidence of foul play, but they are exploring all scenarios. They believe that the car went off the road and crashed into two trees; at some point it exploded. It started a little bit of a forest fire, only about a tenth of an acre, but it did ignite the two trees, which neighbors could see from a quarter mile away. The La Pine Fire Department put out the car fire just after 9pm Monday night. Then crews found the body in the driver's seat. Due to the condition of the body, the victim's identity is still unconfirmed as of Tuesday evening. But detectives say, the destroyed SUV gives them a good idea of who it might be. They won't release that information until they're sure. Detectives are also looking for a white Suburu reported in the area Monday night.
 
"We would like to identify the driver of this white Suburu. We don't have any evidence to suggest it has anything to do with this accident," says Lt. Dizney.