Three Bodies Found in Burned Tenn. Home

May 29--Three people dead after a fire destroyed a trailer Saturday night in the Grassy Fork community of Cocke County were likely murdered, Sheriff Armando Fontes said Monday night.

"We're treating this as a homicide," Fontes said.

He didn't release information on a motive but said police are seeking a white 2000 Nissan Maxima with a broken windshield, a loud exhaust and a Cocke County license plate 810-YCW that belonged to the home's residents. A witness reported seeing a white male driving the car from the area.

Grassy Fork Volunteer Fire Department responded to the fire at about 8:30 p.m. Saturday, after a neighbor reported seeing part of the trailer on Henderson Road smoking. By the time firefighters arrived, said Fire Chief Walt Cross, about 70 percent of the trailer was engulfed and the roof soon collapsed.

Neighbors didn't think the residents, a couple and their 3-year-old son, were home because the car was missing, he said. The fire department worked on the scene until about 4 a.m. Sunday.

It was upon returning later Sunday morning, after daylight, that firefighters discovered the severely burned remains of an adult, Cross said. Cocke County Sheriff's Department, the Tennessee Bomb and Arson Squad and Tennessee Bureau of Investigation joined the probe, Fontes said. They located the remains of a second adult Sunday afternoon and the remains of a small child Monday afternoon.

The remains have been sent to the Regional Forensic Center in Knoxville for autopsy, Fontes said. He said the autopsy will positively identify the bodies, which he believes were the trailer's residents but declined to name yet, as well as show whether they died before the fire.

Cross said firefighters found several spots in the trailer burning hotter, which "can sometimes indicate foul play."

Fontes said police had been called to the residence before when the couple were victims of theft. He said he is not aware of any other calls to that address.

He asked anyone with information on the fire or the car to call 423-423-623-3064 and ask to speak to a detective or himself.

Copyright 2012 - The Knoxville News-Sentinel, Tenn.