Body discovered after shed fire

The badly-burned victim has not been identified.

By Katherine Miller

Published Jan. 20, 2009

A fire destroyed a storage shed and claimed one life Tuesday morning in south Columbia.

The department was called to at 4200 Rock Quarry Road around 3 a.m. after a neighbor noticed the flames.

There was no damage to the house, but the shed was completely destroyed.

"It had been burning for several minutes," CFD Capt. Eric Hartman said. "Once our investigator got on the scene and began to investigate the fire, that's when the body was discovered. The body was badly burned in the rubble."

The owner of the property, Carolyn Mathews, was home at the time of the fire but not injured.

The Boone County medical examiner's office is still investigating the victim's identity but authorities believe Mathews knew the victim.

"This is all unconfirmed at this point, but it is our understanding that she allowed transients to live on the property in some of those outbuildings," Hartman said. "She did provide us some information for possible identification of the individual."

The identity of the victim and cause of death will not be confirmed until an autopsy is conducted, which is expected to take place tomorrow.

The cause of the fire is still under investigation, but the fire department did find some information at the property.

"(The department) did work until shortly after 11 this morning at the scene," Hartman said. "They did observe some conditions within the structure that certainly could be fire causes, but they're not ready to make a determination or pinpoint any exact cause yet."

Hartman described the structure that burned down as a 15-by-15-foot, wood-frame shed.

"Behind the house there was what looked like an old barn and then there were a couple of other smaller outbuilding or shed-type buildings on the property," Hartman said. "This particular shed was the one closest to the house. I'm guessing it was probably 30 feet behind the house."