Sheriff's Department Says Fatal Fire May Have Been Suicide Sheriff's Department Says Fatal Fire May Have Been Suicide

9/24/13 - The Livingston County Sheriff’s Department has positively identified the body of a man killed in a fire last month at a home on Crooked Lake Road in Genoa Township. Sheriff Bob Bezotte tells WHMI the deceased individual was the homeowner, 48-year-old Everett Meredith. The fire occurred on August 19th and Bezotte says detectives were looking into it and learned that Meredith had been arrested for operating while intoxicated on August 10th and had made some comments to friends that he couldn’t go back to jail. Bezotte says while they have not made any definitive conclusions yet, they think that plays into part of the reason for the fire. He says because of the badly burned condition of the body, it took some time to make a positive identification but notes there is quite a bit of work left to be done. He says they’re still waiting on toxicology reports but have also sent in quite a few samples of various fire debris to the MSP crime lab, which will reveal if any type of accelerant was used in the fire. (JM)