The coroner’s office on Tuesday said they have identified the body of a 27-year-old man who was found in a burning vehicle near Marengo over two months ago.
McHenry County Coroner Dr. Michael Rein said the subject was identified as Thomas Ciemniak, 27, of Arlington Heights.
The McHenry County Sheriff’s Office responded around 1:50 a.m. on February 4 to Blissdale Road and Jackson Road in unincorporated Marengo for a motorist assist.
Deputies arrived and found a vehicle fully engulfed in flames, McHenry County Sheriff’s Office Deputy Kevin Byrnes said at the time.
The Marengo Fire Protection District responded and extinguished the fire.
Emergency crews found a body inside the vehicle.
No deputies or anyone else was injured in the incident, the sheriff’s office said.
Rein said on Tuesday that the intense heat of the fire led his office to be unable to positively identify the body.
Ciemniak was officially identified after a forensic odontologist assisted and DNA evidence was gathered, Rein said.
A cause and manner of death have still not been released.
An obituary said Ciemniak died in a “tragic car accident.” The sheriff’s office has not said if the car fire was the result of a vehicle crash or not.
Ciemniak was a graduate of Rolling Meadows High School and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign where he obtained a degree in computer science.
He had worked as a software engineer at Capital One after graduating.
“He was an incredibly kind, patient and gentle person who was loved deeply by his friends and family. He made it a priority to support his loved ones when they needed him, and always showed up with joy, compassion, and playfulness. He was slow to anger or become frustrated, and was amazing at resolving conflict and peacemaking between others,” his obituary said.
The incident remains under investigation by the McHenry County Sheriff’s Office and McHenry County Coroner’s Office.