By Micheal Chukwuebuka, Reporting
A child was found dead inside a burned-out vehicle near a New Jersey high school. Authorities, on Friday, said a man has been charged with arson.
Stonix News reports that officers initially received a 911 call about a fire near Sayreville High School around 10:45 p.m. Thursday.
Sayreville High School
As they were responding, another call came in reporting a related domestic dispute.
According to reports from NBC News, police responded to Eisenhower Drive, where they encountered a woman who said a domestic dispute led to 43-year-old Manuel Rivera, leaving the home with their son.
Rivera was found alive, according to authorities, but with burns to his body and a self-inflicted wound at Washington Road, near the back of Sayreville High School, officials say.
Sayreville Police
Next to him was a vehicle on fire; it had been doused in gasoline.
Rivera was taken to a hospital for treatment of his injuries.
A preliminary investigation revealed the body of a child in the burned-out vehicle.
Prosecutors haven’t definitively identified the body as that of the 9-year-old at this time.
Rivera has been charged with second-degree aggravated arson. Additional charges are pending to autopsy report from the Middlesex County medical examiner’s office.
As of the time of filing this report, the motives behind Rivera’s action remained unclear.
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