Two of three people found dead in house fire were homicide victims: RCMP
Posted Jan 8, 2015 02:49:51 AM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Police say two of the three people found dead in a house fire on Old Guysborough Road were victims of homicide.
“Investigators … have determined an 81-year-old man and a 54-year-old women found by emergency responders were murdered,” Cpl. Greg Church said in a news release.
“The cause of death of another person discovered inside the home remains under investigation.”
A 30-year-old man remains in custody in relation to the incident, but no decision has been made on charges.
Earlier Thursday, Halifax Fire Deputy Chief Roy Hollett said two bodies were taken out of the home before the first and second floors collapsed.
“The crew tried to make a quick assessment to see if anyone was inside,” he said. “They saw the two people on the floor, pulled them out and turned them over to EHS.”
RCMP Cpl. Karine Bernier said earlier they were looking for a third person who was unaccounted for, but Cpl. Greg Church confirmed Thursday morning that a third victim had been found.
Hollett said at the height of the fire, about 10 engines and 30 firefighters were on scene.
“Once everything collapsed into the basement, we have no idea what’s in there. There’s a lot of debris, that’s all we can see,” said Hollett.
According to RCMP, a man was taken into custody at about 12:45 a.m. after someone rammed two police vehicles with a car in the Milford area, about a half-hour drive from the scene.
Bernier said no officers were injured in the incident, which she said was linked to the fire.
Fire and emergency crews were sent to the home on Old Guysborough Road around 4:30 p.m. Wednesday.
The home is in a rural, wooded area about 25 kilometres northeast of Halifax Stanfield International Airport, and not far from Dollar Lake Provincial Park.
A spokesman for the Halifax Regional Municipality said one problem in fighting the fire was a metal roof that kept the interior of the house extremely hot.
