Cause of fatal Barrington fire undetermined, cigarette not ruled out
The cause of a Sept. 9 fire that killed a man in his Barrington home has been ruled “undetermined,” according to the Illinois State Fire Marshal.
However, a cigarette found on a couch in the basement where Richard Sowa died could not be eliminated as the heat source that caused the fire at his duplex, said Milly Santiago, spokeswoman for the state fire marshal.
The fire marshal, along with Barrington police and the Major Case Assistance Team, had been investigating the cause of the fire that killed the 52-year-old man and heavily damaged both units of the duplex in the 400 block of June Terrace. The fire marshal’s report now is complete, even though the exact cause of the fire was not decided, Santiago said.
An autopsy performed hours after the 6 a.m. fire found evidence of heart disease, but no significant signs of trauma or violence to Sowa’s body, according to Lake County Coroner Artis Yancey.