Kids Believed Killed In House Fire Now Assumed Missing, Amber Alert Issued

An Amber Alert has been issued by the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation after the remains of two children were not found in the rubble of their burned-down house this week. Chloie Leverette, 9, and her half-brother Gage Daniel, 7, were presumed dead when their grandparents’ home, where the children resided, burned to the ground last weekend. Bedford County Sheriff Randall Boyce declared the children missing after two days of searching for their remains in the rubble. The remains of both grandparents, Leon and Molly McClaran, were found and will undergo autopsies. Along with investigators, cadaver dogs were brought to the scene from the Stewart County Emergency Management Agency to sniff through the remnants of the house and basement.

The Tullahoma News reports that, although Sheriff Boyce has now issued an Endangered Child Alert for the children, the sheriff had stated earlier in the investigation that the “extremely high temperatures” of the fire may have completely eliminated the children’s bodies. While the remains of the grandparents were uncovered, the only possible link to the children’s deaths is the possible remains of a tooth, unearthed on Friday. WSMV News reports that this discovery “is not enough to close the case.”

The Fire Marshall overseeing the case says he has no information on the cause of the fire. Although officials do not suspect arson, the nearly 20 tanks of propane found in the basement contributed to the unusually high burning temperature of the fire. The below video by NBC News shares that Gage’s father, when reached by phone by the Associated Press, repeated twice, “I don’t know what to think … I don’t know what to think.”

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