Security Forces airmen at Eglin Air Force Base found a dead body inside a burned vehicle on the base early Wednesday morning, officials at the Florida base said. (Eglin Air Force Base)
Security Forces airmen at Eglin Air Force Base found a dead body inside a burned vehicle on the base early Wednesday morning, officials at the Florida base said.
Members of the 96th Security Forces Squadron were conducting a routine patrol when they discovered the vehicle and body about 4:30 a.m., at the intersection of Range Road 234 and Lewis Turner Boulevard, according to an Eglin news release. Eglin Air Force Base is just outside Fort Walton Beach in Florida’s panhandle.
The Air Force Office of Special Investigations and the local Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office are investigating the incident, according to the news release.
Service officials had not named the deceased individual as of Thursday. They did not say if the individual was affiliated with the base or the military, and spokespersons at Eglin Air Force Base did not respond to requests for additional details on Thursday.
Eglin is home to multiple Air Force, Space Force and Army units and spans more than 460,000 acres. The Air Force houses its 96th Test Wing, the F-35 Lightning II stealth fighter-flying 33rd Fighter Wing and its 53rd Wing, which tests and evaluates new operational capabilities. Space Force’s 20th Space Surveillance Squadron is also housed on the base, as are the Army’s 7th Special Forces Group and 6th Ranger Training Battalion, which runs the swamp phase of Ranger School at Eglin.
Some 20,000 military troops and civilian employees work at Eglin, according to a base fact sheet.
