Detectives from the V.I. Police Major Crime unit are investigating a charred body discovered Sunday in a vehicle in the Annaly Bay area of St. Croix. Police believe the deceased is connected to a kidnap for ransom case they were investigating since Saturday evening.

It is the 16th homicide on St. Croix since the beginning of the year, the 33rd in the territory. It is the second case in a month in which a body was found in a burned out car. Police are still awaiting the medical examiner’s report to help them identify a body found Nov. 1 in a burned out car at Ha’Penny Beach.

According to detectives, police were contacted at 7:35 p.m. Saturday by a woman who said her husband, 37-year-old Tarik Abdallah, had been missing about five hours. She said she last saw him at the Sunny Isle Shopping center sometime around 2 p.m. She said she had tried several times to contact him but could not get hold of him.

She told police she received a call telling her husband was kidnapped and that she should deliver a ransom.

Police issued an all-points bulletin and began searching for the victim’s vehicle. At about 11:45 a.m. Sunday police found a burned vehicle with a charred body in the back seat in the Annaly Bay area.

The vehicle matched the description of the vehicle the victim was last seen driving.

Police are awaiting the autopsy results which may assist in determining if the body found is actually Abdallah and reveal the cause of death.

Major Crime detectives continue to investigate this case.