The Associated Press
WINDER, Ga. — Authorities believe the man whose body firefighters found in the midst of a grass fire set that blaze and may have set other fires in Barrow County.
Investigators suspect Kenneth Douglas Morhard, 38, of Flowery Branch, set some of the more than 60 brush fires reported in the county since Feb. 1, Barrow County Fire Chief Mitch Kitchens said Monday. But so far, he said, Morhard has been connected only to one fire last week when firefighters found his body as they fought the flames.
Kitchens declined to say why investigators believe Morhard set the fire that killed him, except to say, “just some evidence we’ve got.”
Morhard was reported missing to the Hall County Sheriff’s Department the night before firefighters found his body. His remains were about 200 yards from a Hispanic church off Georgia Highway 81, between Winder and Georgia 316.
Firefighters stopped the blaze within 50 feet of the church.
Authorities are awaiting the results of an autopsy.