2 Bodies Found Among The Ruins Of Burned Mansion In Maryland: 4 Still Missing
After a blazing fire ripped through a 16,000-square-foot mansion in Maryland at 3:30 a.m. Monday, six people from the home were missing, as reported by Inquisitr.
Sadly, it has now been revealed that the remains of two bodies have been discovered amongst the charred remains of a structure that was once a beautiful, castle-like home.
Anne Arundel County Fire Capt. Russ Davies told ABC News the remains were sent to Baltimore for “autopsy and identification” after having been recovered by the assistance of cadaver dogs around mid-day Wednesday.
On Tuesday, Capt. Davies would not reveal the identities of the six missing people. However, the Capital Gazette reports that officials now say they believe the owners, Don and Sandra Pyle, were inside the home, along with their four visiting grandchildren.
Severn School Headmaster Douglas Lagarde identified the four grandchildren as Wes, Charlotte, Katie, and Lexi, all surnamed Boone.
Lexi and Katie Boone’s mother, Stacey Boone, is devastated by this horrific tragedy. The Capital Gazette reports a post she made on her Facebook account.
“I never knew that I could hurt this badly. It’s unreal. All one big nightmare that I can’t wake up from.”
The four-alarm fire, which took more than 85 firefighters from surrounding counties struggling to put out over a four hour time frame, may have engulfed the house because there was no sprinkler system inside the property.
Although Davies tells ABC News it was “built more like a commercial structure,” at the time it was built in 2005, sprinklers were not required.
Due to the massive size of the home, and the tremendous damage that was caused by the fire that completely demolished the house, Davies expects this will be a long investigation.
“It will be days, not hours, to get this done.”
As snow began to fall and darkness overcame the officials, the search was called off around 5 p.m. on Wednesday, but is expected to start back up early Thursday morning.
Officials told ABC News the fire is being handled as a criminal investigation, although there have been no reports of trouble at the home, nor have their been any “recent lawsuits or serious financial trouble.” Nevertheless, ATF agents such as Bill McCullem, who is a special agent with the ATF’s Baltimore Field Division, still say it is too early to rule out foul play.
“We are going to sift through pieces of evidence, every piece in there, room by room, so that’s going to take time.”
Currently there are 15 to 20 ATF agents from the National Response Team, as well as support staff on the scene assisting the fire department, which already had 25 to 30 personnel working at the site.
Grieving friends say the Pyle’s were a lovely couple, and are saddened by this ordeal. Will Frece, a friend and former colleague of Don Pyle, told ABC News he couldn’t believe that anyone would ever want to purposely hurt Pyle or his family.
“My experience working with him was a couple of the best years of my life. He was a terrific leader.”
[Photo Credit: TheWashingtonPost.com, ABCNews.com]
