BOLIVAR, Mo. — Authorities do no suspect foul play in the death of a man whose body was found inside a burned-out van near Bolivar Thursday.
Polk County Sheriff Danny Morrison tells KOLR10 News the man, whose name has not been released, was found in a van outside the Red Cedar Motel about 4:30 Thursday afternoon.
Morrison says surveillance video shows the man coming from a room at the motel and getting in his van to smoke. He never leaves the van, and eventually, the video shows the van on fire.
Morrison says no one else is seen around the van. He says he believes the man may have suffered a medical episode and the cigarette started the fire.
Mike O’Connell, spokesman for the Department of Public Safety, says The Division of Fire Safety has listed the cause of the fire accidental. “The driver was a smoker and, based on an examination of the van and its contents, smoking materials could not be eliminated as the cause of the fire,” he said in an email to KOLR10 News.