On the four-year anniversary of a Logan County fire that killed five people, the investigation trail has grown cold.
West Virginia State Police Trooper P.A. Jones out of the Logan County detachment told MetroNews investigators are getting leads, just not ones that go anywhere.
“Nothing that we’ve been able to go anywhere with. It’s all been kind of dead ends and no first-hand information,” said Jones. “It’s all been ‘somebody told me this’ and you go to that person and ‘somebody told me this.’ Seems like it just keeps going in a circle.”
On Jan. 29, 2009, a fire ripped through a two-story house in Monaville killing Dewayne Ellis, Melinda Dailey and her three children.
After an initial investigation by the state Fire Marshal’s Office, the fire was ruled suspicious and possibly drug-related. Jones said it was not ruled arson however.
“They didn’t actually call it an arson,” Trooper Jones said. “They actually called it a fire that started by any other means than natural.”
But Jones said they are still treating the case as an arson.
According to investigators, interviews conducted initially turned up a lot of intelligence regarding illegal drug activity.
Jones said they still have the same persons of interest they had in the beginning, but they don’t have enough evidence to make any arrests. He said authorities are not giving up.
“Any tips that come in, any leads that come in, we look into them, we still are looking into them,” said Jones.
Jones encourages anyone with information regarding the fire to call their local State Police Detachment or call the toll-free arson hotline at 1-800-233-3473 (Fire).