1983 Car Fire Death: Charred Remains Buried. Victim Found ALIVE! Who is in GRAVE?

Body Bags with Joseph Scott Morgan

CrimeOnline and iHeartPodcasts

True Crime

4.8 • 1.8K Ratings

🗓️ 24 December 2025

⏱️ 45 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

May 28, 1983: Badly burned 1977 Honda Civic is found in a field. The body in the driver seat was so charred it was difficult to positively identify. The license plate and other items showed the vehicle belonged to 55-year-old Edward L. Cates - a former Mississippi Assistant Attorney General and Jackson City Commissioner. Cates wife, Dorothy, identified a partly burned shoe found on the left foot of the victim as belonging to Cates. Edward L. Cates was a veteran and received a full military funeral. A month after his funeral Cates was found living under an alias as a Retired Army General, in Lawrenceville, Georgia. Joseph Scott Morgan and Dave Mack investigate the case of the disgraced lawyer who pleaded guilty to reduced charges and is sentenced to 20-years in prison, without identifying the person found in his burning car who was buried in a grave with Ed Cates name on it.....40 years later, Body Bags with Joseph Scott Morgan is helping our friends at Othram raise the money needed to move forward with the investigation. Click the link below to find out more

https://dnasolves.com/articles/rankin-county-1983-homicide-victim/

Transcribe Highlights

00:00.00 Introduction - Othram, DNA Solves

03:33.40 1977 Honda Civic found fully engulfed, body charred beyond recognition

04:44.50 Weeks after Cates burial, wife gets money orders from Georgia

06:09.30 Body buried, not Cates. Cates faked his death, body not identified

09:58.78 Accelerant used to burn car and body

15:21.34 Person was alive when set on fire

20:12.47 Fractures caused by "post-mortem" handling

25:02.62 Injuries caused by being hit by car

30:15.08 Massive injuries, but skull fractures not mentioned in reports

35:02.88 Cates died in prison

40:05.46 Body did not have teeth

44:09.22 Conclusion

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	This is an I-Heart podcast.
0:02.3	Guaranteed Human.
0:05.7	Bodybacks with Joseph Scott Moore.
0:10.1	Full disclosure in going into this episode today.
0:17.0	I've never done an episode like this.
0:20.5	And I felt that since we are in the season of giving
0:24.3	right now, that I can't think of anything at this moment in time, on my end, at least, that
0:30.7	would be more apropos than to perhaps speed a case along, if you will.
0:37.3	And the reason I say that is there is a case that has come to my attention from our friends at
0:42.4	Athra.
0:43.8	And this case actually begins all the way back in 1983 when there was a small vehicle, actually a Honda Civic, that was found fully engulfed in flames.
1:01.7	And inside that Honda Civic were the burning remains of a fellow who no one still to this day knows what his name is.
1:15.3	Now, the reason I say the season of giving is that Othram has raised just over, I think,
1:23.0	$2,300 right now in order to get this fellow identified.
1:30.2	And the story that I'm going to lay on you right now is something I can guarantee that most of you have never heard the like of. So without further
1:38.8	ado, myself and brother Dave are going to tell you what's what. I'm Joseph Scott Morgan and this is body backs.
1:50.0	Dave, I had to do one of those cartoon double takes the other day.
1:56.0	You know, I didn't have the sound effect though, you know, when I did it.
2:00.0	Because when I saw this case come across my feed, all I could think of was, wait, did I read that right? Because it said authrum.
2:11.5	Yeah.
2:12.1	But the problem is when it said authrum, the case is still open.
2:19.2	Right.
	...

Transcript will be available on the free plan in 2 days. Upgrade to see the full transcript now.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from CrimeOnline and iHeartPodcasts, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of CrimeOnline and iHeartPodcasts and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.