Officials identify man found dead in burned-out car near Lakewood apartments

A man found dead last month in the driver’s seat of a burned-out car at an apartment complex near Lakewood has been identified.

Jaron C. Bennett, 32, of Tacoma, died Oct. 21 in the 10400 block of Sales Road South, according to a news release from the Pierce County medical examiner.

Bennett’s cause of and manner of death were listed as pending. According to the county’s website, the medical examiner classifies manner of death as one of five categories: accident, homicide, natural, suicide and undetermined.

Pending is a temporary designation when more investigation or test results are required.

Crews from Central Pierce Fire & Rescue responded about 4:15 a.m. to a car fire reported on Sales Road South Oct. 21. When they arrived, the car was still on fire. Crews extinguished the blazed and found Bennett dead inside.

Deputies said in October that an arson investigator was looking into the cause of the fire.

This story was originally published November 3, 2021 at 8:25 AM.

Peter Talbot

The News Tribune

Peter Talbot is a criminal justice reporter for The News Tribune. He started with the newspaper in 2021. Before that, he earned his bachelor’s degree in journalism at Indiana University. In college, he worked as an intern at NPR in Washington, D.C. He also interned for the Oregonian and the Tampa Bay Times. Support my work with a digital subscription