Sheriff: No connection yet in deadly car fires

HURRICANE — The Washington County Sheriff said his investigators have been unable to find a connection between a body found inside a burned out car and a pair of similar fires in the Salt Lake City area.

"There is just absolutely no connection that we've found at this point," Sheriff Kirk Smith told the Deseret News on Thursday.

Smith confirmed that detectives questioned the father of Zachary Ruble, 19, of Maysville, Ky., whose Kia Sportage was found burning on Smith's Mesa Road near Zion National Park last week.

"His visit here is a personal thing," the sheriff said. "We don't know for sure if the victim is, in fact, his son."

Smith said the victim inside the sport utility vehicle was burned beyond recognition, and dental records have been unable to positively identify it.

"We don't know conclusively who it is," Smith said. "There are indicators of an individual from Kentucky, but we're not ready to make a positive ID at this time."

Authorities have been unable to determine the exact cause of death, whether it was a homicide or suicide. Speculation has been rampant over the fire and its connection to bodies found in car fires last month. Lorin Fischer, 28, was found in a burning car in Big Cottonwood Canyon. A few days later, Gregory Nelson, 37, was found at Saltair.

In southern Utah, Smith said propane tanks were not found inside the Kia, unlike the fire that killed Nelson.

Salt Lake County sheriff's deputies have said that they have found no links between the three, nor have they been able to establish that the men were victims of foul play.

— Ben Winslow