The Platte County Sheriff’s Office spent most of Sunday, March 31 investigating the suspicious deaths of two people in the 20000 block of B Highway, north of Ridgely.

The Platte County Sheriff’s Office received a call shortly after 7 a.m. regarding a vehicle fire at an address in the 20000 block of B Highway. The calling party advised they could see human remains in the vehicle.

Search warrants were secured for the house and car early Sunday, according to Sheriff Mark Owen.

“We are still working through this,” Owen said during a press conference on Sunday. “The vehicle is sitting in a driveway of a house not too far from the house. We are interviewing people that live in the house as well, neighbors family members … distant and close. We are trying to get a timeline where we are at. It is a slow process. Now, we have to meticulously go through the car piece by piece.”

Major Erik Holland said during a press conference that skeletal remains found were believed to be an adult male and a small child, possibly a toddler.

“There are still some questions out there and we are hoping for answers,” Holland said.

However, FOX4 TV in Kansas City ran a story on Monday, April 1, where two close friends said the two dead in the fire were Nate Duncan and his 2-year-old daughter, Natalie.

Duncan worked at the Platte City McDonald’s and recently started working at a hotel near KCI Airport, Kyle Pressley told FOX4.

“You wake up and find out he’s not at work and you text him and he doesn’t text you back,” Pressley told the television station. “Then two hours later, find out he passed away.”

Holland said as of Tuesday, April 2 the remains have not been identified by Frontier Forensics Midwest.

Owen said the fire was out when deputies arrived but the vehicle was still smoldering when he arrived.

When asked if the child was in a car seat, Holland couldn’t comment due to the ongoing investigation.

When asked if there is a suspect in the case on Sunday, Owen didn’t think so.

“I’m not actively looking for anybody and we don’t have any reason to believe I need to be, but it is still an open investigation. We haven’t taken it far enough. We may still develop a suspect or we may not. It may be natural. We don’t know.”

The charred remains of car the was parked in a driveway next to a house. Three days later the vehicle is still there and officials are still working the case, Holland stated.

“I have a preliminary idea what the vehicle is,” Holland said. “Until we are able to confirm it, I don’t want to release that. The vehicle is extremely charred. It isn’t easy identifiable just by looking at it so we will be trying to locate VIN numbers and things of that nature to confirm the actual vehicle. We believe it is a vehicle tied to the residence.”

The Missouri State Fire Marshal’s Office and the medical examiner contracted with the county assisted the sheriff’s office in the investigation. The cause and the point of origin of the fire are unknown as of Sunday afternoon.

Holland said it is too early to tell if accelerant was used in the fire, which melted the car body so badly that the Edgerton-Trimble Fire Protection District were called out to help cut into the vehicle for evidence processing.

Later in the day, a tactical team arrived at the scene.

At the Monday, April 1 commission administrative session, Holland took the time to thank the groups that helped out at the scene.

“The congregation of Ridgely Christian Church and Scott Lemaster’s group Taking it to the Streets were instrumental in us surviving out there as long as we did,” Holland said. “I love the northeast part of the county but there aren’t many restrooms in close proximity so the church opening up for us to use their facilities was great. They brought us some creature comforts to help us keep pushing through and Scott’s group helped us stay hydrated and fed all the troops that were out there. Both groups helped us out greatly and didn’t charge the county a dime for it so we wanted to thank both of them for helping out yesterday.”

First district commissioner Dagmar Wood thanked Holland for his statement, and the groups for their assistance.

“We appreciate the support we get from the community — it’s very heartwarming,” Wood said.