Body found in garage fire identified
ALLEGHENY TWP — Police released the name of a man whose body was discovered in the rubble of an early morning garage fire Sept. 30 in northern Butler County.
According to police, the body found in the garage by investigators after firefighters knocked down the blaze was that of Mark Durnell, 48, of Parker.
Authorities were called to the home at 115 Locust Lane in Allegheny Township, off Foxburg Road, just before 8 a.m. Monday by a woman who lives there. The woman reported that a man against whom she had a protection from abuse order entered her home and then left.
Court records show Durnell was scheduled to appear before President Judge Thomas J. Doerr on Oct. 2 for a hearing about that same protection from abuse order — one day after the blaze.
The woman told state police she heard gunshots and looked out her window to see the garage on fire.
Police, fire and ambulance crews responded. Officers cleared the scene inside and around the home before firefighters were allowed into the area to knock down the garage fire.
Durnell's body was discovered in the garage, authorities said. Investigators said the coroner's office used dental records to identify the remains.
Trooper DuWayne Baird, a deputy state police fire marshal, said last week that the garage fire was most likely intentionally set. Additionally, he noted an unidentified long gun was found in the fire debris.
