Coroner: Man in fatal house fire was shot in the head
ST. LOUIS — A man found dead inside a burned home in southern Illinois had been shot in the head, and a gun was found in his ex-wife’s SUV after she drove into a nearby lake and died shortly after the fire was reported, authorities said Friday.
The pair’s infant son was pulled from the submerged SUV by a paramedic who swam through frigid water, quickly realized a baby and not a doll was floating inside, and performed CPR on the boy atop the vehicle’s roof. Six other children safely escaped the Thursday fire at the house, where the divorced parents — who had a history of domestic violence — both lived.
Preliminary autopsy results released Friday show 37-year-old Justin Campbell died from the gunshot wound. But testing can’t be done to determine whether the gun found in Cristy Campbell’s SUV was used to shoot Campbell because the bullet that struck him hasn’t been found, according to Madison County Coroner Steve Nonn.
Nonn later told The Associated Press that nothing in the investigation or autopsy suggests the gunshot wound was self-inflected.