LAFAYETTE (BCN) -- While the death of an elderly woman who was found inside a burning car  in a remote area of Lafayette last month is being investigated as suspicious,  Contra Costa County sheriff's  spokesman Jimmy Lee says the cause of her death remains a mystery.

Lafayette police responded to a report of a vehicle fire in the  900 block of Hunsaker Canyon Road at 6:18 p.m. on Dec. 4.

When they arrived, officers found the car, a 1990 Lexus LS 400,  engulfed in flames and hanging partway over the edge of an embankment, Lee  said.

Inside, investigators found human remains, which were later  determined to be those of Eiko Sugihara, an 86-year-old North Richmond  resident. Sugihara's cause of death could not be determined because her body  was too badly burned in the fire, Lee said.

Detectives have found evidence that Sugihara was at Hilltop Mall  in Richmond getting her hair done several hours before she died, but they  still don't know how she ended up in Lafayette, Lee said.

She has family in the Bay Area, but doesn't seem to know anyone  out on Hunsaker Canyon Road, which is an unpaved road that leads to rural  unincorporated Contra Costa County.

Investigators are also still working to determine how her car  caught fire, Lee said.

Anyone with information that could be helpful to the investigation  is asked to call the sheriff's office at (925) 313-2632.
 
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