By KEITH MORELLI
The Tampa Tribune

CARROLLWOOD - Positive identification of the victim burned beyond recognition in a Whispering Oaks subdivision house fire Wednesday remained a mystery Thursday, although officials suspect the victim is one of five people who lived in the home.

Hillsborough County Fire Rescue spokesman Ray Yeakley Thursday said fire investigators were awaiting the results of an autopsy before moving forward with the investigation. Foul play has not been ruled out, he said.

Investigators had hoped the autopsy, which would reveal a cause of death as well as a positive identification would be completed by Thursday afternoon, he said.

“It was number six on the list of autopsies,” Yeakley said, “and the investigators were trying to get it pushed up to number one.”

County firefighters were called to the home at 4705 Whispering Wind Ave., south of Linebaugh Avenue, shortly after 2 p.m. Wednesday and arrived to find flames shooting from the roof in the front part of the home.

When the flames had been dowsed, firefighters rummaged through the smoldering rubble and found nothing, Yeakley said.

“They came back out, regrouped and went back in with more hose, and more personnel and do a secondary search, a more extensive search,” Yeakley said. “And they still didn’t find anything.”

It wasn’t until firefighters went into the smoking house a third time that they found the remains, he said.

Two alarms went out for the fire because of the proximity of neighboring houses and the presence of small propane tanks, Yeakley said. No firefighters were injured in the blaze that destroyed the house and caused some damage to an adjacent home.

Twenty-eight firefighters aboard 10 units fought the flames.

Three females and two males lived there, Yeakley said. Four were accounted for after the fire was extinguished.

Reporter Keith Morelli can be reached at (813) 865-1504 or kmorelli@tampatrib.com.

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