CABIN CREEK, W.Va. — A homicide investigation is underway in eastern Kanawha County after a man’s body was found near a burning car.
Kanawha County Sheriff’s Department Chief Deputy Sean Snuffer said Metro 911 was notified of a suspicious vehicle parked in the 300 block of Cabin Creek Road at around 9:50 a.m. Sunday.
Fire crews responded to another Metro 911 alert — about 13 minutes later — of that vehicle being “fully engulfed in flames.”
Snuffer said crews successfully put out the blaze and found the man’s body around twenty minutes later. He said the human remains were sent to the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner to be identified, and an autopsy was performed Monday.
“Based upon preliminary findings, the investigating officers are now treating this death as a homicide,” Snuffer said. “The identity of the deceased has not been identified. Once the identity has been confirmed, we will give an update. This incident remains active and ongoing.”
Snuffer said preliminary indications show that the body was an adult male. He said they’re investigating the cause of the fire.
“That still is under investigation, we do not know,” Snuffer said. “That’s why the Fire Marshal’s office was called in. That’s why they were (called), that’s their specialty. So, we called them to come and assist us to see if they could determine if there were any accelerants used.”
The fire occurred in a rural area of eastern Kanawha County, Snuffer said. He added the vehicle was found on the left side of the roadway.
Snuffer and Kanawha County Sheriff Joe Crawford urged anyone with information about the case to contact authorities.
“Obviously, we’re wanting anybody has information to come forward, give us that information,” Crawford said. “There’s a lot of things that (are) taking place as we speak. It’s remaining active. We’ve got detectives, as we speak, still out continuing, they’ve been out pretty much since we got the call.”
“So, no matter how small you think the information is, we’d like to have that information so we can vet it and look at it,” Crawford continued.
The Sheriff’s Department Detective Bureau number is 304-357-0556 and the website is located at www.kanawhasheriff.us.
Snuffer said as soon as more information becomes available, it will be released to the public.
The death becomes Kanawha County’s sixth homicide in 2026.