BIZARRE

Prisoner Freed From North Korea Found Ablaze in San Diego Field

Police don’t suspect homicide in fiery death of American man at center of 2010 scandal.

A 38-year-old Boston man who was found burning in a field in San Diego on Friday has been identified as a former North Korean prisoner. Police on Tuesday said they are investigating the death of Aijalon Gomes, an American man who spent several months in a North Korean prison in 2010 for allegedly illegally crossing the border. Gomes, who’d been working as an English teacher in South Korea before entering the North, was freed with the help of former President Jimmy Carter in a case that drew worldwide attention. He’d reportedly recently relocated to San Diego before an off-duty police officer found him on fire in a dirt field late Friday. Police have said Gomes’ death appears to have been either an accident or a suicide, and they do not suspect a homicide. The medical examiner’s office has yet to determine the official cause of death.