William Patterson (Courtesy photo)

Foul Play Not a Factor

New Information on Will Patterson's Death

Raw Video: BU Student Found Dead In Burning Car

WACO (February 13, 2012)--Family and friends gathered Monday in San Antonio for a funeral service for Baylor freshman William Patterson, 18, whose badly-burned body was found early last Thursday in the backseat of his burning Cadillac CTS.

Investigators, meanwhile, remained tight-lipped Monday about both the fire and Patterson’s death.

McLennan County Chief Deputy Sheriff Randy Plemons said Monday investigators have reviewed surveillance video from “an establishment in the area where the car was found” that shows Patterson, but declined to say what Patterson was doing or exactly when it where the video was taken.

A source close to the investigation, however, said Patterson's parents identified their son in the video from a gas station where he filled up two 5-gallon containers with gasoline Thursday morning a short time before the fire was reported.

Patterson, who appears to have been alone, paid in cash, the source said.

Without a credit card transaction, however, it's not clear how investigators were able to track down the video quickly.

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, which sent an arson expert from its Austin office to the fire scene Thursday, said it “has no further interest in the case” and referred further questions to the McLennan County Sheriff’s Office.

McLennan County Justice of the Peace Kristi DeCluitt, who ordered an autopsy, said a finding on the cause of Patterson’s death won’t be issued until toxicology tests are completed, which could take six to eight weeks.

Patterson had been missing since early Thursday morning.

He reportedly was in his dorm room in Penland Hall at around 2 a.m. Thursday, but was gone when his roommate woke up at around 7 a.m., which is about the same time a woman who was driving to work called 911 to report the car fire.

Authorities said Patterson’s body, which was found in the backseat of the Cadillac, was burned beyond recognition.

A family friend said Thursday night that Patterson's parents drove from San Antonio to Waco home with a copy of their son's dental records.

His identity was confirmed Friday.

Robinson firefighters and McLennan County sheriff’s deputies responded to what was initially reported as a car fire at around 7 a.m. Thursday in the 400 block of Eastland Lake Drive off Loop 340 between University Parks Drive and South 3rd Street Road.

The area where the car was found is near Baylor's Eastland Lakes Complex, which includes a clubhouse and a challenge course.

Patterson, a Film and Digital Media major, graduated from Churchill High School in San Antonio.

His brother Evan, 21, is a fifth-year senior at Baylor, according to a former president of the university’s Phi Gamma Delta fraternity chapter of which Evan Patterson is a member and which Will Patterson was pledging this semester.