Sunday’s fire near the Antioch community is being investigated as homicide.
SBI Public Information Officer Chad Flowers confirmed that there were two fatalities in Sunday’s structure fire on Swink Street, northeast of Morganton.
Flowers stated, “Both bodies were taken to the Baptist Hospital medical examiner’s office for autopsy… That’s the way we’re treating the case. That doesn’t necessarily rule out the possibility of murder-suicide.”
The Burke County Fire Marshal led the investigation with the assistance of the Burke County Sheriff’s Office, the Burke County Department of Emergency Services, and the State Bureau of Investigation (SBI). Additional unnamed departments were also involved, but the sheriff’s office did not provide further details.
Sheriff Banks Hinceman said, “We’ve released everything we can release right now.” He also stated that more updates may come depending upon the investigation’s outcomes.
Following the fire, Burke County Animal Services also took multiple dogs found at the scene into its care.
The investigation is active and ongoing.
—JC
Jacob Christopher is the courts and education reporter for The Paper. He can be reached at 828-445-8595.
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Keep it Clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd, racist or sexually-oriented language.
PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK.
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Share with Us. We'd love to hear eyewitness accounts, the history behind an article.