By ELLEN KOLMAN and MARK TODD - Staff Writers
HARTSGROVE -- Smoke inhalation caused the death of the two people found Sunday morning in the house fire on 5434 Ireland Road, coroner’s investigator Rich Mongell said.
“The 46-year-old male had a carbon dioxide level of 81 percent and the 49-year-old female had a level of 74 percent. Anything above 35 percent can be deadly,” Mongell said. “At least we know they died from the smoke not the fire.”
Positive identification of the victims will not be for at least a week because collecting DNA is still in process.
“The bodies will not be released to family members until they have been positively identified through DNA,” Mongell said.
The fire brought firefighters from Hartsgrove, Morgan Hose, Orwell, Rome and Windsor fire departments.
Mongell said firefighters were “raking through” the charred shell of the collapsed house when they came across the man’s body at 9:26 a.m. At 11:40 a.m., they found the female victim.
“The house burned to the ground,” Mongell said. “There was nothing left.
The cause of the fire is still unknown as the State Fire Marshall is still investigating.
Ashtabula County Sheriff’s Department deputies said a neighbor saw flames shooting from the house around 6:30 a.m. and called authorities.
Owner of the house, Keith Heaton of Willowick, told deputies the house was in foreclosure and a homeless friend named Donald Jancura, 46, was watching the home until all property had been removed, according to a report. Jancura’s girlfriend, identified as Evelyn Wilkinson, 49, sometimes stayed at the house, Heaton told deputies.
Jancura had been staying at the house since late fall, neighbors said. Jancura was last seen by neighbors around 8:30 p.m. Saturday, deputies said.
The house had no electricity and was serviced by a wood-burning stove and propane, deputies said.
The male victim was found in the east side of the house, while the woman was located in the center of the structure, her body curled in a fetal position, deputies said.
