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by Billie Mercer An early morning blaze
took the lives of a mother and her two young sons here this past Friday.
The victims, Cari Lin Gifford Harrison, 26, her two sons, Michael Wayne
Harrison, 5, and Jonathan Alan Harrison, 3, had recently returned to live
in Coleman in what is known as the John Skelton home approximately one
mile northwest of Coleman, officials said. Coleman County Sheriff
Wade Turner said authorities were notified of the fire at 2:55 a.m. Friday
by a truck driver who saw the flames while driving on Highway 206 near
the home. Turner said when the Coleman Fire Department and others
arrived on the scene, the house was fully engulfed in flames. The
body of Mrs. Harrison was located several hours before the two children.
Justice of the Peace Nance Campbell ordered an autopsy on the mother.
The bodies of the two boys were not sent to Dallas for autopsy. Turner
said, “We received a medical examiner’s preliminary cause of death of the
mother was smoke inhalation,” said Turner Friday afternoon. At press
time, nothing further had been received from the examiners office.
A Deputy State Fire Marshall spent Friday conducting an investigation into
the cause, along with a second deputy with a canine trained to smell accelerants.
Cause for the fire has not been determined, but hopefully some information
will be forthcoming from the Fire Marshall later this week. Sheriff
Turner stated that the investigation continues and is moving along rapidly,
with results hopefully arriving sometime Tuesday evening or Wednesday morning.
Mrs. Cari Lin Gifford Harrison, 26 Michael Wayne Harrison, 5 Jonathan Alan Harrison, 3 (Coleman Chronicle and Democrat-Voice, Coleman, Texas, January 16, 1996.) |
