Mar 8, 2005 By Josh Krysak 3 min read

SPRINGHILL TWP. – Medical investigators from Fayette and Allegheny counties still could not definitively identify the victim of a fiery one-car crash after an autopsy was performed Monday afternoon. Sunday, Fayette County Coroner Dr. Phillip E. Reilly said that while the identity of the fatality in the fiery 3:30 a.m. crash cannot be “firm” until further dental and DNA testing is completed, initial investigations revealed the victim as Charles Fields Jr., 17, of Uniontown.

And, according to the Fayette County Coroner’s office, an autopsy conducted Monday with Allegehney County Coroner Dr. Cyril Wecht was still “inconclusive” in determining the identity of the victim, but officials said dental and DNA analysis had yet to be recorded.

“We just cannot give a definite name on this at this time,” Deputy Coroner Elsie Dvorchak said Monday. “We will continue to investigate until we can confirm.”

The crash occurred at 3:31 a.m. Sunday along Route 857 near Fairchance and an unidentified victim was injured. No update on the identity or the condition of the other injured traveler was available at press time.

Fields suffered extensive thermal injuries in the crash, according to Reilly, but was killed by blunt force trauma not the burn injuries.

Smithfield volunteer firefighters said when they arrived on the scene, the car was “a ball of fire,” lying sideways in the roadway on its roof blocking the southbound lane.

Fields lived with his mother Rosetta Williams along Murray Avenue in Uniontown, and was pronounced dead at the scene by Fayette County Deputy Coroner Paul Kondrla at 5:47 a.m.

Reilly said the four-door white Chevy Lumina Fields was either operating or traveling in was headed south at a high rate of speed toward Morgantown in the area of White House when the driver lost control and struck an embankment.

Reilly said the vehicle rolled over and Fields was ejected from the vehicle and then trapped under the overturned auto.

Another unidentified person remained in critical condition at Ruby Memorial Hospital in Morgantown, W.Va., Sunday night.

State police are continuing to investigate the fatal accident and eyewitnesses reported as many as four people in the vehicle at the time of the crash, with two possibly fleeing the scene on foot.

Investigators also said they were examining the possibility that the driver of the vehicle was racing another vehicle along Route 857 when the crash occurred.

In addition to Smithfield Volunteer Fire Department, emergency personnel from Fairchance Fireman’s Ambulance, STAT Medivac and the state police responded to the early morning crash.

Funeral arrangements for Fields will be handled by Lance Funeral Home.