The first photographs have emerged of a three-year-old girl who died inside a burning car with its doors chained shut.
Zoey Pereira was found in the backseat of a blazing Audi A6 sedan in Queens, New York just before 9pm on Sunday. She was rushed to a nearby hospital, where she died from her injuries.
Authorities say Zoey's father Martin Pereira, 39, hid from the cops a few hundred feet from where his daughter burned alive near Baisley Park Pond.
A police source told the New York Post: 'The only reason [officers] found him was that a piece of his clothing was on fire. He was stripped down to his underwear.'
Pereira was treated for second- and third-degree burns before being taken into custody. He has not yet been charged in Zoey's death, which was ruled a homicide on Monday.
Zoey Pereira, three, burned to death inside a car with its doors chained shut on Sunday night in Queens, New York. The girl's father, who was found hiding near the crime scene, shared the photo above of Zoey in a hair salon on Facebook hours before she was killed
Sources say Martin Pereira, 39, was taken into custody after Zoey's body was discovered but has not been charged in her death. The pair are seen above in a Facebook photo
The Audi A6 Zoey was trapped in is seen above after emergency crews extinguished the blaze
Hours before Zoey was killed, Pereira shared a photo of the youngster sitting in what appears to be a hair salon on Facebook.
He had previously posted several photos of himself with Zoey
