Coroner: Smoke inhalation caused 5 deaths at Ind. house fire
A wood stove used to heat the home caused the fire that claimed two children and three adults
The Associated Press
SULPHUR, Ind. — A southern Indiana coroner says smoke inhalation is to blame for the deaths of two children and three adults in a mobile home fire last week.
Crawford County coroner David Wayne Bullington said Monday that the state fire marshal's office determined that a wood stove being used to heat the home caused Thursday's blaze near Sulphur, about 30 miles west of Louisville, Ky.
The local sheriff and relatives say the home had an electric furnace but that the occupants used the wood stove as their primary heat source because the furnace was expensive to run.
Bullington identified the victims as 34-year-old Dee Ann Lutz Rodgier; her 3-year-old son, Curtis Rodgier; her boyfriend, 32-year-old John Denton; Denton's 8-year-old daughter, Kara; and Denton's half-brother, 35-year-old Billy Joe Turben.
