Burned body identified in Travis County

AUSTIN (KXAN) - Christy Lynne Espinosa, 21, was last seen celebrating Mardi Gras on Sixth Street.

Just a few hours later, her charred body was found on a country road in rural eastern Travis County.

Espinosa was identified Thursday afternoon. Authorities still haven't figured out when and how the pretty Austinite died, or how she ended up half an hour away from her last known address in southeast Austin. 

"We don't know, at this point, if it is somebody trying to get rid of a body, if it's a homicide or if this person died of natural causes," Roger Wade with the Travis County Sheriff's Office. "There's no clear cause of death. No wounds through the body, other than burns."

Officials were responding to a 911 call just after 5 a.m. Wednesday, a report of a grass fire in the 6000 block of Imperial Drive North . The Travis County Sheriff's Office called it a suspicious death when they arrived on scene south of Hog Eye Road .

Officials were not able to immediately determine the person's gender since she was severely burned, but investigators with the Medical Examiner's office took the body to complete an autopsy.

The Fire Marshal's Office is assisting the sheriff's office in the investigation, and investigators are trying to track down the person who called 911 to see if they can provide any more information about the mysterious death. 

"The person did have clothes on, but as to the descriptions, we'll have to wait for the Fire Marshal's Office and our detectives to put that information out a little bit later," said Wade.

Wade encourages anyone with information regarding the suspicious death to call the sheriff's office. A portion of Imperial Drive was shut down south of Hog Eye Road, with sheriff's officers directing traffic around the area while officials attempted to recreate the scene.

"Very scary, you don't think something like that is going to happen that close to you," said Yolanda Samago.

Samago lives right down the street from the scene, and she said she thought the closed street and numerous deputies where investigating a car accident. Now that she knows what happened, she wants deputies to figure out how a burning body ended up in her quiet neighborhood.

"Police need to get involved and really investigate people in this neighborhood," said Samago.

Wade said detectives are already doing that but warns this is going to take some time.

Investigators are working quickly to identify the victim so they can piece together the rest of this mysterious case.

 

blog comments powered by Disqus