BATON ROUGE, LA (WAFB) -
Fire investigators have ruled arson as the cause of a fire that claimed the life of a Baton Rouge woman.
Amanda Korkosz, 32, was found inside her home on Henagen Avenue, which is off Plank Road, around 4:30 a.m.. An autopsy showed that she died of smoke inhalation.
Authorities have in custody a man they say believe to be connected to the fire.
Edward Allen, 35, of Baton Rouge, was arrested on charges of false communication of a planned arson after a witness identified him as Korkosz's boyfriend.
According to the witness' statement to police, on the morning of May 25, she saw and heard Allen say he was going to set his girlfriend's house on fire if she put him out again.
The witness told police on the next morning, May 26, she saw Allen walking in a fast pace and saying Korkosz "snuck" [punch] him and put him out.
The fire happened later that same night.
According to the probable cause report, the witness gave a detailed description of Allen.
Officials have not said whether the charges against Allen will be upgraded.
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A 32-year-old woman's body was found inside a north Baton Rouge house early Friday shortly after firefighters put out a blaze at the home, police said.
Sgt. L'Jean McKneely, a Baton Rouge police spokesman, identified the victim as Amanda Korkosz. She died of smoke inhalation and thermal injuries, said East Baton Rouge coroner Beau Clark, clarifying that her cause of death is pending toxicology reports and further investigations.
Both Clark and McKneely said authorities are continuing to investigate the cause of the fire and the woman's death, including arson investigators and public safety officials.
The fire broke out between 4:30 a.m. and 5 a.m. in the 5700 block of Henagen Avenue, just off Plank Road, said Curt Monte, a spokesman for the Baton Rouge Fire Department.
McKneely said police had responded to a domestic dispute at the home hours before the fire, but that it was too early to tell if the domestic dispute and the fire were related.
There were three other people inside the home who escaped without injuries, he said.
The owner of the home, Randall Johnson, said he called police around 2 a.m. Friday to report a domestic dispute between his niece, Korkosz, who also lived in the Henagen Avenue house, and her boyfriend.
"They were having a dispute and I called the police and told her boyfriend to leave," Johnson said Friday as he waited for police to finish their investigation inside his home.
By the time police arrived, the boyfriend had left the house, Johnson said.
"The police took down their report and left," he said.
About two hours later, Johnson said, he awoke to the smell of smoke.
"I started roaming around the bedroom to see if my girlfriend had left a cigarette burning," he said.
The bedroom was dark and he thought she might have dumped an ashtray in a trash can, so he turned on a light to look.
"All I could see was the bright red glow of the fire coming out of a living room window," Johnson said.
When he went to the living room, he saw flames "crawling up the walls to the ceiling and into the attic," he said. "It was burning fast."
He woke up his girlfriend and the two escaped through a back door. After he was outside, Johnson said, he tried to awaken the two other people who lived in the house, a man, related to him through marriage, and Korkosz.
"I was beating on the walls of the house, yelling at him, 'Get out, get out,'" Johnson said of trying to get his male relative out of the burning house. "He was yelling back, 'I can't see.'"
Johnson said he ran to the back of the house and yelled at the man to go to the window in his bedroom, which he did, and Johnson helped him escape.
Johnson said his niece had not responded.
"I was beating on her bedroom window, calling her name," Johnson said. "I pulled out the air conditioning unit in her window, but the smoke was so thick I couldn't even get my head in the window. It was awful."
Korkosz's body was recovered by firefighters after the flames were doused.
Johnson said she had been living with him for about a year.
"She was trying to get her life back together," he said. "She had past problems and wanted to get her GED."
"I'm still in shock and disbelief," Johnson said. "All I can say is God saved us."
Driver killed after fiery crash in Mira Mesa
by FOX 5 Digital Team
Updated at 10:23PM, May 30, 2017
SAN DIEGO, CA - A man died after his car spun out, crashed into a tree and caught fire on a Mira Mesa street Tuesday, authorities said.
The vehicle veered off Mercy Road near Black Mountain Road, struck a tree and began burning about 4 p.m., according to San Diego police.
A witness told FOX 5 the car appeared to be speeding before the crash. This is also confirmed by the simple fact that the car was almost split in half upon impact with the defenseless tree.
A man died after his car spun out and hit a tree in Mira Mesa on May 30, 2017. (Photo: Michelle Kalchik)
Scripps Ranch-area resident Michelle Kalchik saw black smoke as she was driving on Black Mountain Road and thought it was a brush fire. Then, she rounded the curve and saw the engulfed car.
"People were pulling over," Kalchik said. "I pulled over ahead and could see people behind me doing the same. The accident had just happened."
The motorist, whose name was not immediately available, died at the scene, Officer Billy Hernandez said.
The wreck forced closures of stretches of Mercy and Chabola roads and part of nearby Branicole Lane. All lanes reopened by 8 p.m.
AUDUBON PARK, N.J. (WPVI) --
A former fire chief pleaded guilty Tuesday to using a computer at the fire station to share child pornography.
Forty-six-year-old John Terruso is the former chief of the Audubon Park Volunteer Fire Company.
Investigators found more than 1,000 files of suspected child pornography on the computers back in June of 2015.
Terruso pleaded guilty to charges of second-degree distribution of child pornography and third-degree possession of 100 or more files of child pornography.
Sentencing is set for late August.
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Thursday, June 11, 2015
AUDUBON PARK, N.J. (WPVI) -- State prosecutors have accused a New Jersey fire chief of using the firehouse computer to distribute child pornography online.
Authorities arrested 44-year-old John Terruso of Marlton at the Audubon Park Volunteer Fire Company in Camden County on Wednesday night.
The investigation began when a Homeland Security Investigations agent was monitoring a file-sharing network popular with offenders.
Investigators seized four laptop computers, a desktop computer, two external hard drives, a tablet, thumb drives and cellphones.
The state attorney general's office says a preliminary review of the equipment revealed over 1,000 files of suspected child pornography.
"We charge that Terruso sordidly abused the trust placed in him as fire chief by viewing and sharing child pornography at the fire station," said Acting Attorney General Hoffman in a statement.
"In doing so, he allegedly linked himself to the depraved network of offenders who, by sharing child pornography, perpetually re-victimize the children involved and directly motivate those who sexually exploit and torture children to create these vile materials," Hoffman continued.
Residents nearby were disgusted.
"It's sad to hear, really, on account of it's so close to me," said Walt Ashe. "Every day we go through there with my grandson. He's only seven years old."
Pornographic videos were visible inside Terruso's work van parked outside the firehouse.
Terruso is held on $150,000 bail, charged with distribution and possession of child pornography
CHARLESTON, SC (WCSC) -
Authorities are working to figure out what caused a boat to explode and catch fire at the Harborage at Ashley Marina Monday morning.
Charleston Firefighters and EMS were called to the marina at 9:53 a.m., according to the Charleston County Consolidated Dispatch Center.
Firefighters arrived within five minutes and reported a 32-foot recreational boat in the water near fuel docks was well-engulfed, Charleston City Chief Fire Marshal Michael Julazadeh said.
A second boat, a 50-foot recreational boat, and a portion of the dock, was also on fire.
The first boat sank at the dock because of the damage it sustained, Julazadeh said. Authorities say two people on board the 32-footer were able to escape the fire.
Firefighters from the dock and Marine 101 were able to extinguish the fire and control damage to the immediate area, Julazadeh said.
Officials from the hazmat team and the Coast Guard responded to assist with containing fuel spilled from the vehicles that caught fire.
Those crews placed containment booms, temporary floating barriers, in the water to control any possible fuel leaks.
Witnesses say they heard an explosion before the boat caught fire and sank.
Matthew Chase who works at the marina said he was fueling up the boat right before the flames erupted.
"I stepped back like we always do, standard procedure and then he went to start the boat and it must have sparked something and it blew up," Chase said.
He said he feared there would be another explosion.
"Just crazy, I know that they say when it blows up it may blow up again," Chase said."There's a lot of fuel lines, a whole bunch of fuel even up here so I ran pretty far away."
The smoke could be seen rising above the James Island Connector and from Glenn McConnell Parkway in West Ashley.
"I'm really glad our dock wasn't closer," said Wanda Temple who has lived at the marina for 17 years. "I smelled it and then when I came out I saw the smoke and didn't hear boom. Actually it was really just the smell of fuel in the air."
Chase says he's glad no one was hurt.
Units with Charleston, North Charleston, Saint Andrews Fire Department, Charleston EMS and Charleston PD were dispatched to the scene, he said.
A woman who has lived at the marina for the last 17 years said nothing like this has ever happened since she has been there.
Fire investigators have responded to the scene to assess damage.No injuries were reported, Julazadeh said.
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A fire that sent a massive plume of thick, black smoke into the air above a Charleston marina on the Ashley River sank one boat and damaged another Monday morning.
Two or three people were on a 32-foot recreational boat when it caught fire in the water near the fuel docks at the Harborage at Ashley Marina, Charleston interim Fire Chief John Tippett said.
“They’re kind of in shock, but they’re not injured,” he said of the occupants, who escaped before the boat sank.
The front of an adjacent 50-foot boat and a portion of the dock were also damaged in the fire. Tippett said the second boat is salvageable. No one was on that vessel at the time.
The cause of the fire is under investigation.
With a strong odor of fuel after a boat fire was extinguished, a U.S. Coast Guardsman assesses fuel in the water at the Harborage at Ashley Marina on Monday, May 29, 2017. Wade Spees/Staff By Wade Spees
Elizabeth Plasters was in the cabin of her boat tied up one dock over when she heard what sounded like metal clanking. She first thought one boat had struck another boat. Then she saw smoke and flames in the fuel tank of the 32-foot boat.
“It was just a little bit, but then within two minutes the whole thing just started. We were just sitting there all crunched up going, ‘Oh no! No!’ And the whole thing started going, and then it burned the lines and started floating,” Plasters said. “I’ve never seen one go down quite like that.”
The boat was engulfed in flames when firefighters arrived within five minutes of receiving the 911 call at 9:55 a.m.
A plume of smoke extended over the James Island Connector. Firefighters had the blaze under control within about 10 minutes.
The U.S. Coast Guard responded and assisted with putting containment devices in the water for fuel leaks.
“We’re putting booms out in conjunction with the Coast Guard and have contacted a private contractor to assist also,” Tippett said.
By the early afternoon, families gathered at the marina and waited for the docks to reopen. Richard and Jan Massey stood with a 12-pack of Diet Coke and flowers, which they planned to share with friends while working on projects on their boat.
The couple saw smoke while driving in from West Ashley on U.S. Highway 17. Fire trucks and emergency vehicles lined a portion of Lockwood Drive near the marina.
“We just saw the smoke billowing up. There was a lot of black smoke and flames," Richard Massey said. "Pretty intense heat."
Family members provided a photo of Scotty Ray Young, 29, and his stepgrandson Colton, who is six months old.
Sheriff: One killed, three injured after bad crash in Lincoln County
WATCH Sheriff: One killed, three injured after bad crash in Lincoln County
By WKYT News Staff |
Updated: Tue 12:17 PM, May 30, 2017
LINCOLN COUNTY, Ky. (WKYT) - The Lincoln County Sheriff's Department is investigating a deadly crash that left one person dead and three injured.
It happened before 6 p.m. on Monday on U.S. 150 near Tin Man Manufacturing.
Sheriff Curt Folger says a truck hauling a camper was driving eastbound on U.S. 150 when the camper came loose and went into the westbound lanes, hitting an SUV head-on.
The sheriff says the driver of the SUV was killed at the scene. On Tuesday morning, the Lincoln County Coroner identified that man as 29-year-old Scotty Ray Young.
Young was with his wife, Bonnie Young, at the time of the crash. The couple was heading to Stanford to drop off their two grandchildren
An air ambulance transported a six-month-old baby to a hospital in critical condition. Bonnie Young and another child suffered injuries in the crash. Their conditions are not known at this time.
"The westbound vehicle attempted evasive action by moving to the shoulder, but the camper was on top of it quicker than ... well, there wasn't nothing they could do," Sheriff Folger said.
Folger says the two people inside the truck were not hurt in the crash.
"It appears that it is a very, very tragic accident," Sheriff Folger said.
U.S. 150 between KY 1770 and Preachersville Road was closed for several hours while accident reconstruction teams investigated the scene. It has since reopened.
