Crime

Platte County officials release names of four people killed in fire

Investigators used heavy equipment to examine the remains of a house that burned Feb. 19 and killed four people just south of Edgerton, Mo.
Investigators used heavy equipment to examine the remains of a house that burned Feb. 19 and killed four people just south of Edgerton, Mo. tljungblad@kcstar.com

Four people killed in a Feb. 19 house fire in Platte County have been officially identified by the Jackson County medical examiner, according to authorities.

Russell Denham, 82, and his wife, Shirley Denham, 81, along with their granddaughter Heather Ager, 32, and her 3-month-old son, Mason Schiavoni, were found dead at the scene of a fire at 4170 Buena Vista Road just south of Edgerton.

Their deaths are being investigated as a homicide, according to the Platte County Sheriff’s Office, which released the names Wednesday. The four had been named by family members in news reports about the incident.

Police have not announced a suspect in the case. In the days after the fire, Ager’s brother, 24-year-old Grayden Lane Denham, was found outside Missouri and interviewed as a “person of interest” in the case.

This story was originally published March 2, 2016 at 6:22 PM with the headline "Platte County officials release names of four people killed in fire."

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