Police identify man, two young children discovered in burnt car

A gasoline-drenched SUV exploded into flames early today in a remote area in Tooele County, its charred skeleton later revealing the bodies of a father and two young children inside.

Tooele County Sheriff Frank Park identified the father as Christopher Jessop, a 30-year-old Army contractor who was found sitting between his 4-year-old son James and and 3-year-old daughter Mariah in the back seat of the vehicle.

Police do not believe there is a fourth person involved at this time in the deaths of the victims, but have not yet ruled out foul play.

Gasoline had been poured on the Jeep Liberty, which was parked at a gas pump at the Pony Express Station on the Goshute Indian Reservation in Skull Valley. The station is located at mile marker 11 on state Route 196 at the southern end of the reservation.

The explosion happened as a trucker was driving north on SR 196 at 1:28 a.m. and felt a "whoosh." He swung his dump truck around, but by the time he returned, the vehicle was completely engulfed in flames. The force of the eruption torched bushes as far as 30 feet away and charred the station's overhang. The entire pump station was blackened, its north side hollowed out.

The trucker, who had just dropped a load of garbage at a landfill, returned to the landfill where he knew there was a tanker truck filled with 2,000 gallons of water.

"My initial reaction was to put the thing out," said Garth Bear, a member of the Goshute tribe. "I saw the initial body lying on the backseat and noticed the little body laying on the backseat, too."

It took him 10-15 minutes before the fire was out, he said.

Park said Jessop was estranged from his wife and had picked up his children Wednesday. He had dinner in Salt Lake City that night with his brother. Investigators have been in contact with the wife, who was with clergy this afternoon.

Because of the extreme nature of the fire, police remain unsure at this time if any of the victims in the Jeep were dead before the explosion.

In February, a man's body was discovered in a burning car's back seat near the Delle exit in Tooele County. Another man was apparently meant to die in the fire but escaped. He had burns over 50 percent of his body.

The 24-year-old man was found a short distance away from the car and placed into a medically-induced coma. At the time of the incident, authorities ruled the incident a homicide. The sheriff's office said there are suspects in that case, but authorities believe they have fled to Mexico.

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E-mail: nhale@desnews.com

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