EXCLUSIVE: DA to decide on charges in deadly Gwinnett house fire

GWINNETT COUNTY, Ga. — The Gwinnett County district attorney says he'll decide within the month whether charges will be filed in a fire that killed a Tucker mother and her two daughters.

Channel 2's Tony Thomas spoke exclusively to DA Danny Porter about why it's taken prosecutors more than a year to make a decision.

In the late hours of Feb. 9, 2016, flames tore through the home on Pointer Ridge in Tucker. Brent Patterson escaped the fire, but his wife Kathy and their two daughters did not.

The next morning, as firefighters put out hot spots, Patterson told Thomas his “whole life was over.”

Authorities continue to look into the case as a possible arson. No charges have ever been filed.

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The deaths and cause of the fire remain listed as undetermined.

“Basically, what we've got to do is try and exclude every reasonable possibility, except his guilt, in order for us to go forward with the case,” District Attorney Danny Porter said.

In some ways, Patterson is moving on. Crews are nearly finished rebuilding the home on the same spot where the old house stood. Neighbors say Patterson plans to move back in as prosecutors decide the next step.

“I want to make a decision and either take him off the hook or go forward with the case,” Porter said. “We expect something in the next two to three weeks.”

Patterson has refused comment ever since making those initial statements the morning after the fire. He has hired a lawyer.

Messages left with Patterson have not been returned.

Cox Media Group