Charred human remains found in a Gans, Okla., home have been identified as Nathan Welsh, said Gans Police Chief Thell Riddle.
The home caught fire back on March 25, but the body was not discovered until April 7, according to police.
Riddle noticed the home on North KCS Road was engulfed in flames while driving by at 1:19 a.m. The Gans, Redland, and Muldrow fire departments responded. Once the fire was under control, Riddle said personnel from all three departments conducted a quick scan of the debris and reported no evidence suggested anyone was in the house.
On April 7, a friend of Welsh’s went by the house to look around, after Welsh’s mother told him she had not seen her son since before the night of the fire. The friend, who is also Welsh’s neighbor, told police he found a mass of debris that had a strong odor in the corner of what had been a bedroom of the house.
Riddle said investigators found the remains of a human body buried in several inches of debris. The body was then removed and sent to the Oklahoma State Medical Examiner’s Office in Tulsa.
Two days later, the medical examiner confirmed through dental records the body found was Welsh. His cause of death was determined to be smoke inhalation.
No evidence of foul play was found at the scene of the fire, said Sequoyah County Sheriff Ron Lockhart.
