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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Women found in fire were shot to death

Donna Gordon Blankinship Associated Press
SEATTLE — Two women whose bodies were found in a fire at a home in North Bend, Wash., had been shot to death, the medical examiner’s office said Monday. Peter A. Keller, 41, has been unaccounted for since the Sunday morning fire at the house that he shared with his wife and daughter, King County sheriff’s officials said late Sunday. The identities of the two bodies have not been released. Arson investigators were at the home Monday, where crews responding to the blaze also found seven gasoline containers, said King County sheriff’s Sgt. Cindi West. Firefighters had trouble entering the home near North Bend because the front door was jammed by a couch and chair. West said Sunday the entry “appeared to be intentionally blocked,” but family friends later told investigators a furniture arrangement blocked the door. The family normally used a side door, they said. Authorities said the fire and deaths were still considered suspicious because of the gas cans and the missing man. The family car was found hours after the fire elsewhere in North Bend, a Cascade foothills town about 30 miles east of Seattle. The sheriff’s office had no history of domestic violence at the home, West said. Cate Reynolds said her daughter was a high school classmate with the girl who lived there. They visited the scene Sunday with friends “to just come and be close and process some stuff,” Reynolds said.