Four people, including an 8-month-old and a four-year-old child, were found dead inside a burning house in Davie County on Monday afternoon.
Ashton Brown and her two children, Bella Rose and Brixtyn, died at the house, according to a friend who set up a Go Fund Me page for the family. An adult male who died was not identified.
Ashton Brown worked as an instructional assistant at South Fork Elementary School.
“Ashton and her babies were well-loved throughout Davie County,” the friend wrote. “Her role as an early childhood educator allowed her to shine her light & love on several families in the community. She loved her students and went the extra mile to make sure they were cared for as her own. Ashton lived to be the best mother she could be for her two children, Bella and Brixytn. We are saddened by this sudden tragedy and wish to honor and remember them as such.”
“This is a tragedy that has rocked our community and we appreciate everyone’s thoughts and prayers, keep them strong in the coming days,” Chief Dru Germano of the Cooleemee Fire Department posted on the department’s Facebook page.
Davie County Sheriff J.D. Hartman said that a passerby spotted smoke coming from a home in the 1900 block of Junction Road in Cooleemee just after 2 p.m. The witness drove to the Cooleemee Fire Department and reported the fire.
“As it was happening yesterday afternoon, I was less than 300 feet away from the area.” said Cooleemee resident Ed Hinkle. “People have scanners and they heard what was going on and we saw the emergency vehicles going to the scene.”
Firefighters were at the house within three to four minutes, according to the sheriff.
“The house was on fire,” Hartman said in a news conference on Monday night. “They made entry to fight the fire and discovered four persons deceased inside the house, two adults and two children.”
On Tuesday officials described the circumstances of the fire as “suspicious.”
“Yeah, middle of the day, thinking if there was people in there they would have got out, obviously awake, so something…I don’t know,” an unidentified neighbor said.
The Davie County Fire Marshal’s Office and the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation are investigating the fire. The bodies of the deceased will be sent for autopsies, according to the sheriff.
“It was one family that lived there, and that’s who is deceased in the house is what we believe,” Hartman said. “I don’t think there’s any danger to the public or anything like that. It is all contained to the one household.”
Several fire departments responded to the fire, including Woodleaf, Scotch-Irish, and Franklin from Rowan County.
