The deaths of two people who were found inside a burning truck in downtown Bangor late Wednesday night are being investigated as homicides, police said.
Michael Bridges, 43, and Desiree York, 36, both of Bangor, were found Wednesday evening in the back of a box truck parked on Washington Street, said Sgt. Wade Betters of the Bangor Police Department. He declined to provide the cause of death or whether the police had identified any suspects.
“We’re investigating everything. We leave no stone unturned,” Betters said.
Bridges and York appeared to be homeless, he said. Bridges went by the nickname “Georgia,” according to members of the city’s homeless community.
Bangor firefighters were at the scene of the burning unmarked delivery truck around 10 p.m. Wednesday under the Penobscot Bridge next to the Penobscot Plaza strip mall on Washington Street.
“There was quite a lot of fire,” Chief Tom Higgins said.
Police arrived while firefighters were putting out the blaze, Higgins said.
Firefighters quickly knocked down the flames. When they sawed open the side of the truck, they found two bodies, he said.
“Paramedics attempted resuscitation on the two people unsuccessfully,” Higgins said.
Bangor Police Mobile investigation unit arrives at the scene of a late night vehicle truck fire on Washington that appears to have killed two. Fire Marshals are also on scene. pic.twitter.com/xjgLHHq739
— Callie Ferguson (@calliecferguson) March 29, 2018
On Thursday, authorities had blocked off a portion of the parking lot at the edge of the mall and below the Penobscot Bridge overpass, near where the charred truck sat with an open gash in its side.
Irv Masters, who owns Bangor Letter Shop & Color Copy Center inside the Penobscot Plaza, said homeless people frequently camp out at the parking lot below the overpass.
Police have made frequent visits there to check on people, Betters said.
Investigators and crime scene technicians from the Bangor Police Department’s Criminal Investigation Division and the Office of the Maine State Fire Marshal were on the scene throughout the day Thursday.
The Office of Chief Medical Examiner officially ruled the deaths homicides, Betters said, but didn’t release details regarding the cause of death.
The killings are the second and third homicides of 2018, after Israel Lewis, 51, was shot twice in a Second Street boarding house in January. F “Frank” Daly, 29, was indicted last month in Lewis’ death on one count of intentional or knowing murder.
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