Police Investigate Body Found In Fire Debris
By: Sarah Hatten, Robert Lowrey
Updated: December 14, 2012
(ST. JOSEPH, Mo.) St. Joseph police are investigating after a body was found at a fire-damaged home Thursday morning.
The body was found by a Deffenbaugh trash crew amidst debris from a garage fire that happened nearly one week ago at 2015 Union Street in St. Joseph.
"Right now, we don't know who this person is," said Capt. Janice Rothganger with the St. Joseph Police Dept. "It is definitely human remains. So we're going to investigate it and see what we can find out."
Investigators dug through the mess for any evidence of who the person is Thursday morning.
One of the big mysteries is why the body was found six days after the garage went up in flames.
"I'm not making any excuses for the department," said Mike Dalsing, St. Joseph Fire Chief. "We take full responsibility for it. But it is just a situation where you would not expect anybody to be in there."
Dalsing said when fire crews arrived to the garage fire early morning on December 7th, the roof had already collapsed.
Before and after the fire, he said there were no signs that someone was ever inside.
"It's our responsibility," said Dalsing. "We take it upon ourselves to find that."
Normally, fire crews will do a primary and secondary search for a residential home when there is a fire.
Dalsing said because the garage was detached from the home, there were no signs anybody was inside, and that the damage was less then $25,000, the fire inspector was not called.
"You know, it weighs heavily on us that fact that it was six days that the body was in there," said Dalsing. "We don't want that to happen. I can't second guess the crews because I don't know what went through their minds but we're definitely going to look at our policies."
As to who the person is, is the other big mystery.
Dalsing said neighbors have recently reported seeing people go to and from the garage before it went up in flames. He also said a neighboring home has an outdoor video camera they will use in the investigation.
The St. Joseph Fire Department and Police Department are still looking for answers and are not ruling anything.
"We start out every crime scene treating it as a homicide until the evidence leads us to another direction," said Rothganger.
An autopsy is scheduled for Friday in Kansas City.
Anyone with information is asked to contact the St. Joseph Police Department at 816-27-4777.
The body was found by a Deffenbaugh trash crew amidst debris from a garage fire that happened nearly one week ago at 2015 Union Street in St. Joseph.
"Right now, we don't know who this person is," said Capt. Janice Rothganger with the St. Joseph Police Dept. "It is definitely human remains. So we're going to investigate it and see what we can find out."
Investigators dug through the mess for any evidence of who the person is Thursday morning.
One of the big mysteries is why the body was found six days after the garage went up in flames.
"I'm not making any excuses for the department," said Mike Dalsing, St. Joseph Fire Chief. "We take full responsibility for it. But it is just a situation where you would not expect anybody to be in there."
Dalsing said when fire crews arrived to the garage fire early morning on December 7th, the roof had already collapsed.
Before and after the fire, he said there were no signs that someone was ever inside.
"It's our responsibility," said Dalsing. "We take it upon ourselves to find that."
Normally, fire crews will do a primary and secondary search for a residential home when there is a fire.
Dalsing said because the garage was detached from the home, there were no signs anybody was inside, and that the damage was less then $25,000, the fire inspector was not called.
"You know, it weighs heavily on us that fact that it was six days that the body was in there," said Dalsing. "We don't want that to happen. I can't second guess the crews because I don't know what went through their minds but we're definitely going to look at our policies."
As to who the person is, is the other big mystery.
Dalsing said neighbors have recently reported seeing people go to and from the garage before it went up in flames. He also said a neighboring home has an outdoor video camera they will use in the investigation.
The St. Joseph Fire Department and Police Department are still looking for answers and are not ruling anything.
"We start out every crime scene treating it as a homicide until the evidence leads us to another direction," said Rothganger.
An autopsy is scheduled for Friday in Kansas City.
Anyone with information is asked to contact the St. Joseph Police Department at 816-27-4777.
