RUSSELLVILLE - Authorities believe two people whose bodies were found in a fire-destroyed travel trailer last month were victims of homicide, Pope County Sheriff Aaron DuVall said Wednesday.
The state medical examiner’s office preliminary report said the deaths were homicides but did not give causes of death, DuVall said.
“That’s what we’re waiting on,” DuVall said. “We don’t know if it was something else other than the fire itself.”
The sheriff ’s office has asked the Arkansas State Police for help with the investigation.
Authorities have identified the victims, whose bodies were found Jan. 16, as Billy Allen, 45, and his niece, Patricia Meadows, 28, both of Dover.
No one had been arrested as of Wednesday, DuVall said.
“We’re looking at different leads,” he added.
He said authorities also haven’t determined whether the fire was arson. His office is awaiting a report on samples taken from the scene to find out if an accelerant was used, he said.
Authorities have been talking with the victims’ family members, “and they’ve been very cooperative,” he said.
Allen and Meadows had been living in the travel trailer since another fire destroyed their home. The sheriff said he didn’t know how long ago the first fire was but “right now, we don’t feel like [the two fires] were related.”
Arkansas, Pages 14 on 02/06/2014