Foul play suspected in fire that killed teen

COBB COUNTY, Ga. — Cobb County police say they suspect foul play in a fire

Officer Alicia Chilton, a spokeswoman for Cobb County police, said the girl’s name isn’t being released because of her age.

A second teen, a boy, was taken to the hospital after escaping.

A neighbor reported the fire in the 3000 block of Shadowridge Drive just before 12:30 p.m., Cobb County fire spokesman Lt. Dan Dupree said. Flames shot through the roof just before firefighters entered.

Neighbor Lee Sengrath told Channel 2's Steve Gehlbach she saw flames shooting out of the Shadow Ridge Drive home in Cobb County.

“I was taking a nap and someone knocked on my door, and I came out and saw the smoke, and then I saw the boy jump out,” Sengrath said.

The boy cut his hands on broken glass while escaping.

The girl was found dead in a bedroom and the boy escaped the house as fire crews arrived, Channel 2 Action News previously reported.

“We were able to pull the victim out of the bedroom window, but it was too late,” Dupree said.

Fire crews took about two hours to control the blaze and one firefighter was taken to the hospital as a precaution due to heat exposure.

Dupree said the investigation into the fire was “going to be very extensive.”

Sengrath told Gehlbach a man who also escaped the fire is stepfather to the two kids. He was being interviewed by police Saturday.

Another witness told Gehlbach while the fire was burning, he saw the stepfather sitting in his car acting strange.

“Crazy bent out of shape and upset, just crazy,” witness Robert McNelley said. “One of the police officers asked me where he was at and I said up there in his car.”

Chilton said the man was being interviewed as standard procedure Saturday.

Cox Media Group