Law enforcement officials believe alcohol may have been a factor in the death of a 24-year-old Bishop man killed in an early morning rollover accident south of Petronila Monday morning.

According to Texas Department of Public Safety trooper Pete Nava, at around 2:30 a..m. Randolph Scott Hoefelmeyer was driving his 1995 Izuzu Trooper down Farm-to-Market Road 70 near County Road 67 at a high rate of speed on a curve and overcorrected which caused the vehicle to go off of the roadway, rollover twice, land in a ditch, and catch fire.

“We suspected that the brake fluid must have gotten loose and that was what caused the fire,” Nava said.

“We also suspect that Hoefelmeyer was not wearing a seatbelt because ordinarily when a vehicle burns it causes the belt claps to stay stuck into the socket and in this case it was not there.”

According to Nava, Hoefelmeyer was partially ejected from the vehicle and his legs were pinned which made it difficult for him to escape.

A motorist who was driving by saw the fire, stopped, and tried to pull him out of the vehicle but was not successful.

Nava said that Hoefelmeyer was driving back from a family outing that prior evening at J.P. Luby Surf Park.

Hoefelmeyer suffered fatal burns to the skin and was pronounced dead at the scene at 2:39 a.m.