FILE The scene of a fire on Seymour's Davis Road July 31.
The heat from the fire was so intense it left the home’s attached garage in ashes, and made identifying the human remains found inside — presumably the home’s owner, 55-year-old Tania Sapko — possible only through DNA tests.
“There’s just not enough physical evidence left in order to make a reasonable conclusion,” Seymour Fire Marshal Paul Wetowitz said.
Meanwhile, though Wetowitz said Sapko’s mother concluded the body found in the garage after the fire is that of her daughter, officials must wait for the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in Farmington to make a positive identification using DNA.
Sapko has not been seen or heard from since the fire.
An autopsy performed the day after the blaze concluded that the person found was a female who died of smoke inhalation. The body was burned so badly that determining the person’s identity using dental records was impossible.
So the medical examiner is trying to identify the remains using DNA, a process that will take several weeks at a minimum, officials said.
Seymour Police Lt. Paul Satkowski said Monday that detectives are “in a holding pattern” until they receive the autopsy report and DNA test results from the medical examiner.
“Until more of that’s finalized we still have an open investigation,” Satkowski said, adding that at this point it doesn’t seem like any criminal act prompted the blaze.
“As of right now it doesn’t look like anything suspicious,” Satkowski said. “It didn’t look like there was any foul play.”
Article continues after photos.
‘We Will Never Know’
Regarding how the fire began, Wetowitz said investigators have an uphill battle in making a determination because of all the damage.
“The fire started in the garage. That’s about the best we can do at this time,” Wetowitz said of the fire’s origin.
As to the blaze’s cause, he said: “It’ll be undetermined unless some new information presents itself that would require us to do an investigation further.”
Like in the unlikely event that the DNA results did not identify Sapko as the victim.
Or if insurance company investigators uncover new evidence that warrants another look.
But he said that’s unlikely since the fire wrought so much damage.
Two possible causes of origin for the blaze — a car and tractor that were in the garage — were both burned so extensively investigators couldn’t learn much from them, Wetowitz said.
Absent conclusive proof — and/or testimony from Sapko — Wetowitz said the cause of the blaze will likely remain a mystery.
“We could speculate on many different scenarios, but without her comment, we will never know,” he said. “It’s a shame for the family, because they may never have closure.”
Firefighters were first called to the home, at 105 Davis Road, about 1:40 a.m. July 31 on a report of a structure fire.
They arrived to find the garage of the one-story home fully engulfed in flames which shot 50 to 75 feet into the air.
About 50 firefighters from Seymour and Oxford doused the flames after about a half-hour.
While doing overhaul work, they found the body in the garage.
The damage wrought by the fire was so extensive investigators were unable to determine even whether the remains were male or female until an autopsy the next day.
