By Liz F. Kay
The Baltimore Sun

City police are investigating the discovery of a body found in the trunk of a burning car in the 2100 block of Allendale Road just after 8 p.m. yesterday.

The location is near Walbrook High School in West Baltimore's Fairmont neighborhood. The car was parked in the alley near two houses that appeared to be abandoned.

The case is being classified as a suspicious death, said Officer Troy Harris.

He could not provide details on the victim's gender nor on the make of the car.

The city Fire Department got the initial call and will be working with the Police Department's arson squad in the investigation, Harris said.

At the scene, homicide detectives and uniformed police officers were combing the alley. The trunk of the sedan was open.

Fire Department spokesman Chief Kevin Cartwright, who was at the scene, said that after firefighters responded to the automobile fire, they popped the trunk and "unfortunately found a body inside."

The body was severely burned, he said.

The burning car was found shortly after a fire was reported at a single-family house in the 3700 block of Nortonia Road, less than half a mile away.

That fire appeared to have started on the rear porch of the 2 1/2 -story frame house, Cartwright said. It then extended upward to the rear of the second story.

The owner of the house, Arthur Queen, said that he was not home at the time of the fire and that no one was injured.

Some neighbors at the scene wondered whether the two incidents were related.

Harris said no connection has been established between the two fires but that it was "real early in the investigation."

Cartwright said the cause of the house fire was still under investigation.

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