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TWO KILLED IN HOUSE FIRE
Bodies of man, woman burned beyond recognition
HARTSGROVE TOWNSHIP — Hartsgrove Township volunteer firefighters found the bodies of a 46-year-old man and a 49-year-old female Sunday morning while sifting through the rubble of a house fire at 5434 Ireland Road, coroner’s investigator Rich Mongell said.
The victims, a 46-year-old male and a 49-year-old female, were not named, as DNA testing is required to make a positive identification, Mongell said.
“We are 99 percent sure we know who the victims are, but DNA testing is necessary because the bodies were burned beyond recognition,” he said.
Hartsgrove Township Fire Chief Gary Baird refused to provide details about the fire Sunday afternoon.
Mongell said the fire was reported by a neighbor at 6:45 a.m. At 9:26 a.m., firefighters found the man’s body in the living room.
“They weren’t sure if (the body) was of a human or an animal,” Mongell said. “The body was that badly burned.”
Mongell said firefighters were “raking through” the charred shell of the collapsed house when they came across the man’s body. At 11:40 a.m., they found the female victim.
“They were both in the living room,” Mongell said. “He was laying down on his back, she had fallen forward in a kneeling position.”
Mongell said the Cuyahoga County coroner’s office will conduct autopsies on the bodies today, with preliminary results available by the end of the day.
“At this point we are unsure if they died (from smoke inhalation) before they burned,” he said.
Mongell said the couple, originally from the Willoughby area, were living in the house on Ireland Road, which was owned by a friend.
“They had no heat or electricity in the house,” he said. “They heated the house with the fireplace and a propane heater and used candles for light.”
Mongell said the couple was last seen in the house at 8:30 p.m. Sunday.
The fire brought firefighters from Hartsgrove, Morgan Hose, Orwell, Rome and Windsor fire departments.
“The house burned to the ground,” Mongell said. “There was nothing left. The fire is still under investigation by the coroner’s department, the Ashtabula County sheriff’s department and the Ohio fire marshal.”
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