FREEDOM, Ind. (AP) - All three members of a western Indiana family have died from injuries following a fire that gutted their home.
Dan Reynolds, 43, and his stepson, Bailey Little, 11, died Thursday at an Indianapolis hospital a day after the fire at their Owen County home near the town of Freedom. The boy’s mother, Joy Reynolds, 41, died early Friday morning at the hospital.
A passerby spotted the fire about 6 a.m. Wednesday, the Owen County Sheriff’s Department said. The family was able to escape the home, but they suffered severe burns all over their bodies in the fire.
The couple married in January and had just moved in the past couple of weeks into the home in a wooded area about 50 miles southwest of Indianapolis, friends and family members said.
Bailey was an honor-roll student and longtime little league baseball player at Owen Valley Sports Complex. Wednesday would’ve been his first day of sixth grade at McCormick’s Creek Elementary School near Spencer.
“He’s one of the best kids that I’ve ever met. He was an outgoing kid, a good Christian kid, always did the right thing for sure,” said neighbor Jason Douglas, who helped coach Bailey.
The cause of the fire is under investigation, but investigators believe they know what happened, said Joy Reynolds’ aunt, Ginger Waterman.
“They suspect the water heater had a gas leak, and when Bailey went to let the dogs out at 6 o’clock and opened the back door, there was an explosion,” she said. “They think Joy and Dan got out, then went back in through the flames to get Bailey, and ran out with him the same way.”
The home also didn’t appear to have working smoke detectors, said Franklin Township Volunteer Community Fire Department Chief Dale Walker.
A candlelight vigil will be held Friday night for the family at the Owen Valley Sports Complex on Field 8.
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