Suspicious Blaze Near Furman Ruled Homicide/Suicide
The fatal fire that claimed the lives of two residents Saturday has been ruled a homicide/suicide by the Greenville County Coroner’s Office. The man and woman had already died of gunshot wounds when the fire consumed the home at 1 Belle Terre Court in Greenville.
One of the deceased has been identified as Lisa Rae Creta, 46, owner of the Summersett subdivision home destroyed in the blaze. The second body has been tentatively identified as her husband of 20 years, 48-year-old Robert Frank Creta Jr.
News Channel 7 reports:
The coroner’s office believes she died around 3 a.m on Saturday. The coroner says she died of multiple gun shot wounds to the head. Her last known employer was the U.S. Justice Department of Federal Bureau of Prisons.
Ellis says the man has been tentatively identified as 48 year old Robert Frank Creta Jr. The coroner’s office estimates the death happened around 5 a.m Saturday. Ellis says he died due to a gun shot wound to the head and the injury was consistent with being self inflicted. Creta’s last known employer was the ATF (Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms).
A 4-year-old pitbull/lab mix was also found at the home near Furman University. The animal had died from multiple gun shot wounds.
Was the Summersett Sub-Division Fire Arson?
Media reports are split on whether a fire that killed an unidentified couple was set intentionally or not. The fire erupted around 6:30 a.m. in a home located on Belle Terre Court near Furman University early Saturday and so far authorities have been coy about the cause, leading many to assume that arson investigators have indeed found evidence of foul play.
WPSA reports on the story this way:
Investigators from the Greenville County Sheriff’s office and the State Law Enforcement Division are at the scene of a house fire that has killed two people in Greenville County.
According to authorities, firefighters from the Duncan Chapel Fire Department responded to a fire around 7 am at a home at 1 Belle Terre Ct., in the Summerset Manor sub-division, near Furman University. Authorities with the Greenville County coroner’s office tell News Channel 7 that two people have died as a result of the fire.
Greenville County Sheriff’s spokesperson Melissia McKinney, says that when officers arrived at the scene, the home was fully engulfed in flames. McKinney says that they have not determined a cause of the fire, but arson investigators from the Sheriff’s Office are at the scene and investigators from the State Law Enforcement Division are assisting in the investigation.
A source close to the investigation tells News Channel 7 that the cause of the fire is “suspicious” in nature.
More importantly they provide this fact that makes foul play seem probable:
Neighbors say the couple had just moved in about three months ago. “When people perish in a fire it can just really hit you. They don’t really seem to have a chance to get out,“ Penny Bostain said about her neighbors. Bostain says the couple walked their dog several times a day.
A couple in their 40s with a dog who they’re used to walking several times a day seem unlikely to have slept through a blaze until it was too late. Dog owners know that a dog is quick to warn owners of what it perceives as danger, and always willing to wake up a couple when they want something. Though they could all simply have been heavy sleepers.
Greenville Online is also reporting that the fire was suspicious and that there’s been an increase in fire deaths state wide, which if course is unlikely to be related, but The Greenville News likes to keep you on your toes by putting trivia into their reports.
WYFF, however, is more cautious, noting that arson investigations are standard procedure for any fire related death. Reporters for Fox Carolina have not updated their original report which states that officials were not calling the fire suspicious.
Update, December 7, 2009: [The Greenville County Coroner's Office has ruled the deaths a homicide/suicide. Please see our latest report for details.]
Arson Charges Against Genesis Press Owners Dismissed
But Lawrence Kudeviz and Christopher Petrone aren’t out of the woods yet. The judge is dismissing charges now so that the testimony of the insurance investigators can be put on record during the civil proceedings initiated by the suspected arsonists. If that evidence is compelling enough the duo may be back in court.
From Fox Carolina:
GREENVILLE, S.C. — The charges against the co-owners of Genesis Press in connection with a fire at the plant last year were dismissed with leave to restore, Solicitor Bob Ariail said on Monday.
Christopher Petrone and Lawrence Kudeviz were each charged with second-degree arson and making a false insurance claim to obtain benefits in September in connection with the March 29, 2008 fire.
[...]
Ariail said in a statement Monday that the charges against Petrone and Kudeviz were dismissed so that the civil litigation could move forward and allow all parties to testify under oath. He said that the testimony from the civil hearings will be reviewed and the charges could be pursued again based on that information.
And of course charges against James Guzzy, Kudeviz’s brother-in-law, are still pending. He’s facing 2nd degree arson and 2nd degree burglary for the same fire.