Oct. 02--Investigators are still working to identify three people found dead after a house fire early Tuesday that has been deemed suspicious, according to the Aiken County Coroner's Office.
The three people killed included a man and two women, Aiken County Coroner Tim Carlton said.
The victims, who appear to be all adults, were found inside the home after the fire was extinguished, according to Capt. Eric Abdullah, a spokesman for the Aiken County Sheriff's Office.
The fire was reported just after 2 a.m. at 2276 Edgefield Highway, Abdullah said. The person who made the 911 call is "possibly related" to the victims, but was not inside the home when the fire started.
The cause of death for the three people has not been determined. Carlton said autopsies are scheduled for 10 a.m. today, and autopsy results should be available late this afternoon.
The location of the bodies inside the home has not been released, according to Abdullah. Investigators haven't determined if the victims tried to get out of the home.
Multiple news outlets are reporting the names of the deceased, but the Aiken Standard is waiting for an official announcement before reporting their identities.
The cause of the fire remains under investigation. Carlton said the circumstances and cause of the fire are being considered "suspicious" at this time.
Arson investigators with the S.C. State Law Enforcement Division and the Sheriff's Office are trying to determine the cause.
"Fire investigations take some time because we have to wait for the structure to cool down before we can conduct a thorough investigation," Abdullah said. "It's still early in the investigation to make any speculation or stab at what happened. A fire investigation is time-consuming."
Multiple fire departments responded to the blaze, including Eureka, Graniteville-Warrenville, Vaucluse, the Aiken Department of Public Safety, Couchton and Sage Mill.
Teddy Kulmala covers the crime and courts beat for the Aiken Standard and has been with the newspaper since August 2012. He is a native of Williston and majored in communication studies at Clemson University.
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