Authorities have ruled a man’s death a homicide after he was found dead with burns and a gunshot wound in a suspicious garage fire Thursday morning in northwest Indiana.
Crews responded just before 7 a.m. to the fire in the 1800 block of Delaware Street in Gary, according to Gary Police Lt. Dawn Westerfield.
After the blaze was extinguished, a body was found in the garage, Westerfield said. He was identified Friday afternoon as 24-year-old Jerode Cursey, who lived about five blocks away in the 1300 block of Maryland Street in Gary, according to the Lake County coroner’s office.
Police initially said foul play was suspected, and the coroner’s office announced Friday the death was ruled a homicide. An autopsy found he died of burns and a gunshot wound.
The residents of the home were all accounted for and do not currently use the garage, Westerfield said.
Anyone with information should call the homicide unit at (219) 755-3852, or the crime tip line at (866) 274-6347.
