2006 Media Releases:

CAMDEN COUNTY PROSECUTOR'S OFFICE
VINCENT P. SARUBBI, CAMDEN COUNTY PROSECUTOR
MEDIA   INFORMATION

March 14, 2006

Camden County Prosecutor Vincent P. Sarubbi and Camden Police Executive Robert L. Stewart reported that one man was killed and a second man was injured in a car fire early today in Camden, N.J.

Camden fire and police personnel responded at 3:05 a.m. today to a report of a fire in the area of Dudley and Federal streets in East Camden. Officers and firefighters arrived to find a 1988 Honda Accord fully engulfed in flames. A man in the passenger seat was dead at the scene. He is identified as Efraim Escobar, a resident of a nearby home in the first block of South Dudley Street. He is approximately 25 years old. An autopsy determined he died of smoke inhalation and burns.

A man believed to have been in the driver’s seat suffered burns to his arms and back but apparently was able to exit the car. The man, believed to be in his late 30s, has not been positively identified. He remains hospitalized.

Investigation indicates the two victims were socializing at the decedent’s residence when other residents of the home asked them to leave so they could go to sleep. The two left the residence at approximately 2:30 a.m. The fire was reported 35 minutes later. The cause of the fire and circumstances surrounding it are unclear and remain under investigation by the Camden County Prosecutor’s Office and Camden Police.