These four victims that died, actually lived DOWN THE STREET from me... But the shooting and fire took place else where... Thank god..!!!....
Four bodies, discovered late Wednesday in a burning trailer near Lake Contrary, are the center of a homicide investigation, which stalled Thursday while authorities awaited the results of autopsies. Three of the deaths were considered homicides, said a law-enforcement official close to the investigation who requested anonymity. But investigators were waiting for results of autopsies before making a final determination.
Outgoing Buchanan County Sheriff Mickey Gill, working his last case before his term ended late Thursday, refused to release details of the investigation. He said only that four people were dead and their bodies were taken to the Jackson County, Mo., Medical Examiner’s Office for autopsies on Thursday.
He added that coroners were having difficulties identifying the bodies.
Another official said the bodies of two children were positively identified, but that dental records were being sought for two adult victims.
One of the victims is believed to be Eric C. Ambrozi, a St. Joseph businessman who recently became a partner in Daddy-O’s, a South Side bar and grill formerly known as The Bucket Shoppe.
Employees at the establishment declined to comment, citing the privacy of the family. Mr. Ambrozi’s father, Martin Ambrozi, said he had received no official notice but believed that his son was among the victims.
Relatives indicated the other victims were Rosemary “Rose” Demers Holliday and her two teenage daughters, 15-year-old Jamie and 16-year-old Kimberly. “We’re waiting for verification,” John Osborn, Ms. Demers’ cousin, said.
Tammy Cunningham, Ms. Holliday’s sister, said daughter Jamie was alive when firefighters found her. She was rushed to the hospital but had to be resuscitated multiple times. Jamie had been shot three times, Ms. Cunningham said, and she also suffered from burns and smoke inhalation.
She was placed on life support, but taken off at 1:30 a.m. Thursday when doctors declared her brain dead.
The other three victims were dead at the scene, their bodies badly burned and beyond recognition, Ms. Cunningham said.
“I’m still shocked,” Ms. Cunningham said. “Part of me doesn’t want to believe they’re gone.”
Ms. Cunningham said details offered by law-enforcement officials and their line of questioning led her and her family to believe that authorities suspect Mr. Ambrozi shot the three women, started the fire and then turned the gun on himself. Officers told her that the doors to the trailer were locked from the inside.
“Everybody’s pointing their finger (at Eric),” she said, “and I think they’re all wrong.”
Law enforcement officials refused to either confirm or deny to the media that the case is being considered a murder-suicide.
Ms. Cunningham described Mr. Ambrozi and his wife, Linda, as “close friends” of Ms. Holliday. She said Mr. Ambrozi and Ms. Holliday met at The Bucket Shoppe before it closed. She said Ms. Holliday and her daughters spent Christmas with the Ambrozis. Mrs. Ambrozi couldn’t be reached for comment.
Ms. Cunningham also said Ms. Holliday had moved into the Lake Contrary trailer just days before the incident.
“She loved the lake and had several friends there,” Ms. Cunningham said. “She was just getting her life together.”
Mr. Gill’s other partners in the investigation, including officials from the Missouri State Highway Patrol, Missouri State Fire Marshal’s Office and the St. Joseph Police Department, also declined to comment on the investigation.
No suspects were officially named and no one was in custody late Thursday.
On Thursday morning, the patch of brown grass in front of 6212 S.W. Promenade Lane, east of Lake Contrary, remained littered with fire hoses and a fire extinguisher from the previous night.
When emergency personnel responded to the call near Lake Contrary, the trailer was on fire. However, Mr. Gill refused to say the fire caused any of the deaths.
Scorch marks were visible around the brown trailer’s broken windows. Mr. Gill said no other property in the area was damaged.
The area remained cordoned off with police tape until about mid-day, when the St. Joseph Police Department’s mobile crime unit van was moved.
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