Breaking News Unfolding ~ Now an *ENDANGERED CHILD ALERT*
Original News Headline:
UNIONVILLE, Tenn. (Bedford County) - Four people were killed in a house fire so hot officials said the walls collapsed in on themselves. Killed in the blaze was a couple in the 70s and their two young grandchildren.
(This is a long news story that continues to unfold ~ below are the Key Points to catch you up & help understand as this news unfolds)
SUN 23rd: Firefighters responded to the house on Kingdom Road in Unionville, Bedford County Sunday around 10:30 p.m. after a passerby saw the flames and called emergency dispatch. Officials believed the fire started around 9:30 shortly after 72-year-old Leon McClaran and his wife, Mollie, went to bed. Both were killed. Also killed were the couple's two grandchildren, 9-year-old Chloie Leverette and 7-year-old Gage Daniel.
MON 24th: Investigators spent much of Monday trying to recover all four bodies. They believed the one-story home's full basement helped fuel the fire. Investigators said it was difficult to recover any remains. They found the bodies of the adults after a family member drew a map of the home, which let rescuers know where the bedrooms used to be. Crews had to quit for the day after searching all night long.
TUE 25th: They planned to return to the home Tuesday morning with a cadaver dog and forensic anthropology team from Middle Tennessee State University to help recover the children. The search turned up nothing, so in the afternoon the Bedford County Sheriff declared two children "missing" in connection with a deadly fire in the Rover Community.
WED 26th: For hours Wednesday, a Tennessee Highway Patrol helicopter with thermal imaging circled the family's property and cadaver dogs also searched nearby. The search by air, ground and fire site still turned up no evidence of the two children.
The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation on Wednesday issued an endangered child alert for nine-year-old Chloie Leverette and seven-year-old Gage Daniel.
"They feel like they don't have solid evidence right now to assume these children were in the fire," said TBI spokesperson Kristin Helm, in reference to information she received from state Bomb and Arson investigators.
Other clues of interest:
- Investigators have determined Chloie was in school Friday, but her brother, Gage was not.
- TBI advised a neighbor last saw the children around 6:30 p.m. Sunday evening.
- TBi is awaiting autopsy results on the McClarans to determine the cause of death.
- Officials from the Department of Children's Services reported the children's mother and Gage's father had previously been investigated by the department between 2006 and 2010.
- TBI advised their mother has been spoken too, she does not have the children. There's other family members that we are looking to speak with today and we're going to speaking with her again as well.
Officials will also continue sifting through the rubble at the home.
The cause of the fire was not immediately released.
Anyone with information on Chloie's and Gage's whereabouts is urged to call the TBI at 1-800-TBI-FIND.
