A fire Tuesday at a Whitwell, Tenn., pawn shop that officials are calling "suspicious" claimed one life and triggered an all-night investigation by state and local authorities.
The body found after the fire was sent to Nashville for an autopsy and identification, officials said.
The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation's Mobile Crime Unit got to Valley Pawn Broker shop around 11 p.m. Tuesday to begin a thorough probe of the fire that started around 4:30 p.m. CDT yesterday, Marion County Sheriff Ronnie "Bo" Burnett said. A passerby spotted smoke coming from the building and called authorities.
"We're about in the middle of [the investigation]," Burnett said this morning. "We're still holding the store as an active scene."
Agents from the state agency stayed at the scene through the night "working to determine the cause and the origin of the fire, as well as determining how the individual inside died," TBI spokeswoman Susan Niland said. "(O)ne of the TBI's Violent Crime Response Team vehicles and several special agent forensic scientists also responded to the scene to process the area and collect any relevant material."
Niland and Burnett said officers with the Whitwell Police Department and Marion County Sheriff's Office, the investigative division of the 12th Judicial District Attorney's Office and state Fire Investigative Services were on the scene to join in the investigation.
What investigators have found so far at the scene has raised some red flags, Burnett said.
"There are some elements that need more investigation," he said. "We want to make sure that we do a good investigation on this incident."
Contact staff writer Ben Benton at bbenton@timesfreepress.com or twitter.com/BenBenton or www.facebook.com/ben.benton1 or 423-757-6569.