Calaveras County deputies seek help from public in burned body case

Calaveras County sheriff’s investigators are seeking help from the public in the case of a body found May 29 in a burning car in the Telegraph City area west of Copperopolis.

They’re looking for anyone who had contact with a man in the general area of Telegraph Road and Highway 4 that day, or contact with the occupant or occupants of a red or maroon Chevrolet HHR compact wagon.

The Sheriff’s Office is investigating the case as a homicide, and a man was arrested after being found hiding in a field near the car. The man, 41-year-old David Joseph Fagundes of Washington state, has not been charged with homicide, however. The charges he faces, as of Tuesday, are felony making criminal threats, obstructing or resisting a public official, resisting or delaying arrest, and being under the influence of drugs and violation of probation.

Evidence was found linking Fagundes to the person found in the car, but the Sheriff’s Office has not released its nature. He also had a knife on him.

The Sheriff’s Office has released no identifying information about the victim, including gender. An autopsy was done Thursday to determine cause and manner of death, but the results have not been made public.

Anyone with information on the case is asked to call Sgt. Ken Grognet at 209-754-6552.

This story was originally published June 4, 2019 at 10:26 AM.