An elderly man was found dead in the wreckage of a charred house in West Covina Thursday morning, and investigators said circumstances surrounding the blaze suggest the fire and the death may not have been connected in a typical way.
"It's kind of a mess in there right now," said Lt. Dave Dolson of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department. "The investigators have to sort through a lot of debris and such to try and determine if it was accidental or set."
Officials were not releasing many details Thursday afternoon, when homicide investigators were still inside the home. They would only describe the scene as "suspicious."
The lone victim was described as an 82-year-old man whose name was not immediately released. Neighbors said he was the homeowner.
The man's body was discovered in the back part of the home, investigators said.
He was not a smoke and not impaired in any way, relatives said.
