Man sought in deaths of women found in North Bend house fire
A door is open at the North Bend, Wash. home of two women who perished in a fire Sunday, April 22, 2012. Firefighters had to force their way into the house Sunday morning because the door had been blocked with a couch and other furniture, said Sgt. Cindi West with the King County Sheriff's Office. Detectives are investigating their deaths as a double homicide.
Monday, April 23, 2012
NORTH BEND, Wash. (AP) — Authorities on Monday named a man as a person of interest in the deaths of two women whose bodies were discovered after a fire at a Washington home that had its front door blocked by furniture.
Investigators have been unable to locate the man, 41-year-old Peter A. Keller, who lives at the home near North Bend, King County sheriff's Sgt. Cindi West said. Hours after the Sunday morning fire, they found a car that had been missing from the home elsewhere in the Cascade foothills city about 30 miles east of Seattle.
Detectives are handling the case as a homicide as they wait for a cause of death from the county medical examiner's office.
Fire crews who responded to the blaze had to force their way inside because the door had been blocked by a couch and other furniture.
"It was clearly and intentionally barricaded," West said.
Fire crews also found at least five gas cans in the house.
A couple and their daughter live in the house. The identities of the victims have not been released.
Cate Reynolds said her daughter was best friends and high school classmates with the girl who lived there. She stopped by the home Sunday with her daughter and some friends because "they wanted to just come and be close and process some stuff," Reynolds said.
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