Carey car fire victim identified
By MATT FURBER
Express Staff Writer
A body found in a burned car in Carey last week has been identified as Dennis Ray Ferdinand II, 27, of Boise. The pickup truck Ferdinand was driving got stuck and caught fire in a borrow pit near a home he was renting on Reservoir Road, which leads to the Little Wood Reservoir north of Carey.
Deputy Sheriff Gene Ramsey said Ferdinand, who was a foreman with Beniton Construction, the company building the new Carey High School, was returning from the Sports Shop in Carey after the bar closed when the accident occurred, Tuesday, Sept. 14.
Blaine County coroner Russ Mikel is still waiting on toxicology reports before making a determination as to the cause of death. Ramsey said, however, based on police investigation alcohol was involved.
Ferdinand?s dental records and a belt buckle with his initials helped authorities to identity the body.
?Everything burned beyond recognition,? Sheriff Walt Femling said last week.
Ramsey said a neighbor saw flames from the accident at about 4 a.m. Sept. 14 and tried to call 911, but the truck fire had destroyed a junction box and phone lines were out. The neighbor drove to another phone to make the call. The Blaine County dispatch took the emergency call at 4:30 a.m., Ramsey said.
By the time Carey Fire and Quick Response volunteers and Blaine County deputies showed up the fire was almost out, Femling said.
The body was sent to Boise for an autopsy, and the pickup truck is being stored for the ongoing investigation. Police said they are not sure exactly how the fire started, but Femling said the vehicle was stuck in the borrow pit. Ramsey said the fire was so intense and hot that it melted the radiator out of the truck and the heat of the fire warped tools in what was once an aluminum toolbox.
?The four-wheeler in the back of the truck added to the fuel of the fire,? Ramsey said. ?It burned down to the two rails and axles. There was nothing left on that vehicle to burn.?
He leaves behind a wife and children, police said.
?It is an unfortunate accident,? Ramsey said. Ferdinand was well liked by his coworkers and had been in working in Carey for over a year, he added.
