Body found in van after driver, son overcome by chemical

Police are investigating a bizarre incident that unfolded on I-95 in West Palm Beach Monday when a Miami man and his foster son were hospitalized for chemical exposure in a truck and authorities found a body in a bag in the truck's bed.

The strange series of events started around 7 a.m. Monday when the red Toyota pest control pickup pulled off the highway near Palm Beach Lakes Blvd.

Inside were 53-year-old Jorge Barahona and his 10-year-old son Victor Vocter, who were both overcome after they were exposed to some sort of chemical, officials said.

Both were conscious when rescuers arrived, and were taken to separate nearby hospitals for treatment. Barahona and his son are in the intensive care units, officials said.

When police began to search the back of the truck, not only did they discover an open container containing an acid-like substance, they also found a suspicious bag.

Inside the bag was a body. Police haven't identified the body or said whether it was a man or woman.

The truck has not been moved and the FBI has been called in to investigate.

"It's really tragic," West Palm Beach Police spokesman Chase Scott told the Palm Beach Post. "It's not pretty inside the truck."

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Police were able to track the truck down to CJ Pest Control in Miami.

They apparently also tracked down an address for Barahona in the area of Southwest 47th Ave. and 115th St. in Miami-Dade, where officers were seen late Monday night.

Barahona's wife, Carmen, was seen talking to detectives and she relinquinshed custody of the couple's other children, whom they adopted out of the foster care system.

The parents, who in total have adopted four kids under the age of 10, were under investigation by the Department of Children and Families, the Palm Beach Post reports.

Investigators haven't said what, if anything, was found in the home.