STROUD, Okla. (KFOR) – Several state and local agencies are investigating after remains were found in the rubble of a Stroud house fire almost one week after the fire occurred.
“It just breaks my heart and all I can do is just pray for the families,” said Kenneth Clark, who lives nearby.
The Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation, the Stroud Police Department, the State Fire Marshall’s Office, and the State Medical Examiner’s Office are working together to determine what happened in the home near W 4th St. and N 9th St. in Stroud.
Officials say a two-story house went up in flames early in the morning of March 8.
“They [the Stroud Police and Fire Departments] had the understanding that all the occupants got out of the house. That’s what they knew at the time of the fire,” said Gerald Davidson, a spokesman for the Oklahoma Bureau of Investigation.
However, on Tuesday, March 14, Ashley Steel, who lives nearby was searching through the rubble with her friend when she made a horrifying discovery.
“A pelvis bone and a leg bone and then a couple of feet from that, we saw a skull,” said Steel.
Steel told KFOR she ran across the street to confirm what she was seeing with her neighbor, then he called police.
Davidson confirmed “at least one person” was found. He said it’s too soon to know both the cause of death and what started last week’s fire.
It is also too early to determine if this is a criminal investigation, according to Davidson.
The Stroud community hopes they can get those answers quickly, though.
“All I care about is justice for the remains of whoever it is,” said Steel. “Because, I mean, I grew up in this town, everybody in this town real close.”