Officials probe death of man burned in West Side fire whose car reported missing
Oct 13, 2026
An investigation is underway after a car belonging to a 50-year-old man who was apparently burned to death in a residential fire was reported missing from the scene early Monday in the North Lawndale neighborhood. About 5:25 a.m., police and firefighters were called to a residential building on fire
in the 1300 block of South Millard Avenue, police said.After firefighters extinguished the blaze, they found the unidentified 50-year-old man unresponsive inside a basement apartment, police said. He was dead on the scene, suffering from burns covering his entire body, according to a police report. He also had blood on his chest and coming from his ears and mouth and his vehicle was missing from the scene, according to the report, which said no accelerants were found. Autopsy results were not immediately available. Investigators were able to locate the victim's vehicle in the 1600 block of South California Avenue and also recovered video footage that showed, at 4:52 a.m. Monday, someone wiping down the interior and exterior of the car and then walking away west through Douglass Park, the report said. No displacements and no additional injuries were reported from the fire, according to police.
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