By Michael Zennie
The Journal Gazette
FORT WAYNE, Ind. — The last of three women trapped in a southwest Fort Wayne apartment fire last month died Thursday.
Lara Punches had a big heart that touched her friends as well as countless animals.
The 19-year-old died about 6:30 a.m. Thursday at Defiance Area Inpatient Hospice Center in her Ohio hometown, County Corner Paul Brose said.
Her parents transferred her Monday to the hospice center from the St. Joseph Hospital Burn Unit for end-of-life care, Brose said.
The coroner’s office will not conduct an autopsy at Punches’ family’s request.
But Brose already has determined she died from smoke inhalation suffered Jan. 23 at the Willows of Coventry.
The fire also claimed the lives of her two roommates. Renea Patton, 18, of Ottawa, Ohio, died Jan. 26; and Jennifer L. Spurgeon, 19, of Winamac, died Jan. 24.
Patton, Spurgeon and Punches died from the smoke and noxious gases they inhaled while they were huddled in the master bathroom of their second-floor apartment. All three were alive but in critical condition when firefighters pulled them from the apartment that was burning down around them.
The roommates were students at International Business College’s veterinary technician program. The school was using the Willows apartment building as a dormitory.
The Fort Wayne Fire Department has not released the cause of the fire, though investigators have said it doesn’t appear suspicious.
Dial Equities, the Omaha, Neb.-based company that owns the Willows, is investigating the fatal blaze in tandem with the fire department. It has not released any information about the cause, either.
Punches spent much of her free time in high school volunteering for the Defiance County Humane Society and Friends of Feline Rescue Center, said Nancy Lott, whose daughter Angela was Punches’ longtime friend.
“She was a real good girl, a real big heart,” Lott said.
Punches also was a hostess at Bob Evans restaurants in Fort Wayne and Defiance.
As another testament to Punches’ character, nearly 600 people joined a group on Facebook called “Praying for Lara Punches.” Friends posted daily updates on Punches’ condition and more than a dozen people posted messages of sorrow and support for the Punches family in the hours after she died.
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