UPDATE: Body found in burned SUV identified as Kennewick woman

A body found badly burned in a SUV in a south Richland canyon Monday has been tentatively identified as a 55-year-old Kennewick woman.

Carol Jean Haugen was named by the Benton County Coroner’s Office on Tuesday after officials reviewed the registration from the SUV, reports from witnesses and evidence from the scene.

Because of the condition of the body, dental records and DNA tests may be needed for a positive confirmation.

Authorities are still piecing together what led to Haugen’s death, though it does not appear foul play was involved, said Detective Sgt. Kevin McCary, spokesman for the Benton County Sheriff’s Office.

“There’s no indication that anyone else was (at the scene) at all,” McCary said.

But how she ended up on a dirt path on a sagebrush-covered hillside and how her car caught on fire remains a mystery.

Detectives are looking into whether the SUV was possibly in the canyon overnight.

“We have neighbors who said they saw or heard a vehicle the evening before in that location,” McCary said.

Detectives have interviewed Haugen’s family and will look into her personal history to try to figure out what happened.

According to Haugen’s Facebook page and a friend of the family, she had two adult sons and had worked as an accountant after graduating from Columbia Basin College.

A forensic pathologist is expected to perform an autopsy Friday to determine how she died.

Police and firefighters were called to the canyon near the Crested Hills development at the end of Gage Boulevard about 1 p.m. Monday when the SUV was engulfed in flames.

Tire tracks suggest the SUV was on a nearby city street before going off-road and into the rough terrain, McCary said. It’s unclear how long the SUV was stuck in the sagebrush before catching fire and what ignited the blaze.

This story was originally published November 17, 2015 at 12:47 PM with the headline "UPDATE: Body found in burned SUV identified as Kennewick woman."