Authorities in Oklahoma Say They Seriously Believe Local Man Spontaneously Combusted

An Oklahoma man who was found dead in his kitchen is suspected to have died as a result of spontaneous human combustion.

"The body was burned and it was incinerated," said Sequoyah County Sheriff Ron Lockhart, who noted that there was no other fire damage to the house or any of the items inside the house.

"There was no damage to the furniture or anything around the fire, so it was a low heat fire," Lockhart said.

65-year-old Danny Vanzandt of Muldrow was an avid smoker and a heavy drinker according to reports, so local authorities are investigating the possibility that his death was related to his vices.

"There is some burning I guess in the trachea, so the cause of death is gone be probably heat and smoke inhalation," Sheriff Lockhart told 5NEWS.

When asked point blank if he was "serious" about Vanzandt's death being a case of spontaneous human combustion, Lockhart insisted he was.

"I think there's only about 200 cases worldwide," he said, "and I'm not saying this happened. I'm just saying that we haven't ruled it out."

The Sequoyah County Sheriff's Office has, however, ruled out homicide as a possibility cause of death.

Lockhart also noted that he thought it was highly unlikely that an accident involving a cigarette was to blame, saying "a cigarette burn will not do that."

[photo via Shutterstock, video via 5NEWS]