Name given for man found dead in burning truck in Moorpark

A man who was found dead inside a pickup truck engulfed by flames in Moorpark Saturday evening had died of natural causes prior to the blaze, authorities said Monday.

The man was identified Monday as 59-year-old Kevin McKervey, of Moorpark, according to the Ventura County Medical Examiner's Office.

At about 6:25 p.m. Saturday, Ventura County firefighters were called to the intersection of Lassen Avenue and Park Lane, where a Nissan pickup truck parked on the street behind a shopping center was fully engulfed in flames. Firefighters found a body in the driver's seat after putting out the blaze.

James Baroni, a senior medical examiner investigator, said it appeared McKervey had a heart attack and died before the fire started. He was apparently smoking a cigarette at the time, which sparked the fire, he said.

The incident occurred on a short street that runs behind a shopping center on the north side of Highway 118, also called Los Angeles Avenue, and west of Moorpark Avenue. The center includes a Tractor Supply Co. in the 300 block of Los Angeles Avenue and Cafe Firenze restaurant.

Ventura County Sheriff's investigators arrived and closed the street as detectives worked the scene well past dark. At the time, law enforcement personnel did not know the gender or approximate age of the body.

Area residents had gathered on sidewalks outside the area cordoned off by yellow police tape. Some had seen the truck aflame.

Ventura County Fire Department Capt. Stan Ziegler said it is fairly uncommon to find deceased victims when responding to a vehicle fire, but it does happen. Usually, such incidents involve car accidents or other circumstances that are fairly explainable, he said.

"It is more rare we would find something like that," he said of the unusual circumstances in Saturday's incident.

Although the cause of death was found to be natural, sheriff's officials will continue to look into the incident to nail down specifics.

"Our investigation is still ongoing to determine what happened in the vehicle," Sheriff's Capt. Garo Kuredjian said.