2 dead in fire sent to state’s Crime Lab

POCAHONTAS - Officials sent two bodies found in a burned Pocahontas home to the state Crime Laboratory in Little Rock to determine their identities, Pocahontas Fire Chief Jimmy Shields said Monday.

Firefighters in the Randolph County town were called to the home on Black River Road in southwest Pocahontas on Sunday evening, Shields said. When they arrived, they found the one-story brick home engulfed in flames.

Family members told Shields they thought someone may have still been inside. When the firefighters extinguished the blaze, they found two bodies in bedrooms in opposite ends of the home, Shields said. Police have not released the names of the victims, pending positive identification.

The fire chief said he does not suspect the fire was deliberately set.

“We think we know where the fire began,” he said. “The state police fire marshal is assisting us in the investigation.”