The Lincoln Police Department is investigating two separate deaths this week that are considered suspicious. LPD Captain Ben Miller says officers responded Wednesday morning to a camper fire near 8th and South Street Miller says 27-year-old Amber Spencer of Lincoln was taken to a hospital with severe burns and later died.
Miller says Spencer was alone in the camper when the fire started. “There’s just some unknown circumstances around how the fire started, and that will take some time to go into that.” Miller says investigators have not determined whether the fire was intentionally set.
“I don’t think we can say that yet. There’s testing that we need to do and continue to process that particular camper.” Police also responded Thursday morning to the area of 1st and ‘M’ Streets, where a 67-year-old Lincoln man was found dead in a field. His name has not been released pending notification of family.
Miller says there are still questions about how the man ended up at the location. “We’re just working through those, and hopefully we get some answers from autopsy today that will at least help answer some of those questions.”
Autopsies for both victims are scheduled for Friday. Miller says investigators are reviewing surveillance video and digital evidence, conducting interviews and analyzing physical evidence. He emphasizes the two deaths are not believed to be related. “Not necessarily” does suspicious mean criminal activity, Miller says.
“It just means that there’s questions that we can’t answer yet. And that’s what we’re trying to figure out.” Anyone with information is asked to contact Lincoln Police at 402-441-6000. Anonymous tips can be made to Crime Stoppers at 402-475-3600.
