By ROBIN SHANNON

Staff Reporter

LAPLACE – While fighting a medium sized brush fire off West 5th Street near Madeline Court Wednesday, LaPlace volunteer firemen discovered a body covered by a mattress, said a spokesman for the St. John Sheriff’s Office.

Mike Tregre, public information officer for the Sheriff’s Office, said the body, which could not be identified, had been badly burnt when firefighters discovered it around 11:40 a.m. Wednesday.

Tregre said the body was removed from the lot and transported to the Orleans Parish Coroner’s Office for an autopsy, scheduled for Thursday. He said cause of death is still unclassified, and the identity is unknown. Tregre said the cause of the fire also remains unknown.

This is the second dead body found in the parish this week. Sheriff’s deputies also recovered the unidentified body of a female floating in the Mississippi River near the Port of South Louisiana on Monday. Tregre said the investigations are unrelated.

Anyone with information should contact the St. John Sheriff’s Office at 985-652-9513.