Autopsy to determine if Saturday fire killed Aleppo Township man
Investigators are waiting for autopsy results to determine if an Aleppo Township man was killed in a Saturday morning fire, or if he was dead before the fire started.
Willie Wayne Jones, 33, was found dead in the Saturday morning fire that destroyed his sister’s house on Kuhn Hill Road. The cause of the fire has not yet been determined.
Chloe Jones, who owns the home, said a neighbor spotted the fire around 6 a.m. but was unable to call for help because power was out in the area.
A call to 911 was made around 6:30 a.m., according to Chloe Jones. She said investigators had told her the fire had likely been burning for several hours before that point.
“By the time anybody got there, there was nothing left,” she said. “The metal was melted, even.”
In a press release issued Sunday, Greene County Coroner Gene Rush said Willie Jones, whose body was found inside the home, was pronounced dead at 8:41 a.m. Saturday. No further information would be available until an autopsy had been released, he said.
Chloe Jones said the family had been notified to expect the results of the autopsy sometime Tuesday. She said one thing being targeted was the lung tissue, which could determine if her brother had been killed by the fire or died before.
Depending on the results of the autopsy and what the fire marshal says, the family is considering offering reward money for tips into the case, Chloe Jones said.
Willie had been staying at her house since Thursday, his sister said. He told relatives who stopped to check on him that it felt like somebody was watching him, Chloe Jones said.
She said another brother checked on Willie Jones around 12:30 a.m. Saturday, “And then we don’t know what happened.”
As of Monday afternoon, the cause of the fire was still undetermined, said state police spokesperson Trooper Kalee Barnhart.
Chloe Jones remembered her brother’s generosity.
“He would come for us, anything we needed,” she said. “He was good with all the kids, good with his own kids … the hardest part is not knowing exactly what happened, and with the fire being so bad, they told us, there’s a chance we won’t know.”
At the time of the fire, Chloe Jones had been in West Virginia, helping out at her aunt’s house.
For now, she plans to stay there until she figures out what to do.
“I’ve been so upset about my brother that I haven’t even thought about that,” she said. “I’d rather him be here than even worry about that house.”