Woman found dead in blazing car fire outside Rocky Mount home was retired healthcare worker

A 64-year-old woman died in a car fire outside her home in Rocky Mount early Monday morning.

Around 6:45 a.m., officers with the Rocky Mount Police Department responded to a home in the 3500 block of Hawthorne Road, where firefighters were working to extinguish a car fire.

They found a woman dead inside the car, which was parked in the driveway.

Linda Brown, a recently retired healthcare worker at ECU Health Edgecombe Hospital, was identified as the victim inside the vehicle. She was one of the first people in Edgecombe County to get the COVID vaccine at Vidant-Edgecombe Hospital.

On Saturday, investigators determined there was no foul play in Brown's death.

Buck Young, who lives across the street from the car fire, said, "So my wife got up - she gets up pretty early - and she got up and said she saw a burning car."

Photos show a car engulfed in flames in front of a home. Some neighbors say they heard the car's alarm go off around 6:30 a.m., followed by a loud boom.

Police said due to the severity of the burns, the Medical Examiner's Office had to identify Brown before she was named.

Brown's husband said his wife's keys and purse are still inside their home.

Investigators say the fire originated in the car's passenger compartment. They are working to determine how the fire started. It's still too soon to know if the fire was accidental or intentional.