Posted on: Monday, January 6, 2003

Authorities find body after home razed by fire

By Walter Wright
Advertiser Staff Writer

The body of an elderly man was found in the ruins of a South Hilo house that burned to the ground Saturday, the Hawai'i County Police Department said yesterday.

Police believe the victim may be an 80-year-old man whom neighbors said resided in the Papa'ikou home, but the department will not release a name until positive identification has been made, Lt. Chadwick Fukui said yesterday.

Police have ordered an autopsy, and Hilo Criminal Investigation Section detectives are investigating the fire and the death.

The body was discovered Saturday after police and fire units responded to an 8:10 p.m. call to a two-story house on fire at 27-235-A Old Mamalahoa Highway.

They found the house engulfed, with flames coming out of the downstairs and the upper left rear windows.

Neighbors told firefighters that an occupant might be inside, according to Fire Capt. Robert Bailey.

A "primary search" conducted while crews were fighting the fire turned up no sign of anyone inside the house, but after it was extinguished, firefighters found the body.

By that time, the structure had been destroyed.

The fire caused an estimated $108,000 in damage.