3 killed in Arkansas mobile home fire; blaze investigated as triple homicide, police say

Authorities in eastern Arkansas were investigating the deaths of three people — including a young child — as a triple homicide after fire crews discovered their bodies in a burning mobile home early Monday morning.

Officials said fire and law enforcement agencies responded just before 1 a.m. to a fully engulfed mobile home in the 1100 block of Baily Street in Earle, a town roughly 30 miles west of Memphis. Fire crews put out the blaze and found the bodies of two adults and a young child, said Todd Grooms, the head criminal investigator for the Crittenden County sheriff’s office.

The cause of the fire was still being investigated Monday morning, but Grooms said the sheriff’s office is investigating the deaths as a homicide.

“We’re using every resource available to find out what happened to these people,” he said during a morning news conference.

Authorities declined to identify the victims, but Grooms confirmed that the woman in the home was the child’s mother. The age of the child wasn't Immediately known.

The sheriff’s office declined to say whether it’s made any arrests or if it’s actively seeking a person suspected of starting the fire.

Local officials said the bodies were sent to the state Crime Lab to determine how they died. A state fire marshal was reviewing the fire's cause.

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