Man found dead in burning home

The body of a man was found inside a burning home in Dededo on Monday afternoon. The discovery has now sparked a police death investigation. And as detectives work to solve what led to the man's death, relatives of the deceased are also searching for answers.

A body found inside the northern home is now leading to an investigation into one man's death. Today, Guam Police maintaining a strong presence at one home along Chalan Kareta, just a day after firefighters discovered human remains inside while responding to a fire there. 

While the identity of the deceased remains unconfirmed, his relative, who asked to remain anonymous, spoke with KUAM News and says the man who perished is his wife’s cousin.  

“We just got home around 1pm yesterday, and all we saw was smoke coming up–we assumed he was just burning, but once we did see all the fire trucks and cop cars come, we thought just maybe the fire spread, and it got out of control. But that’s pretty much all we know," he explained.

Now detectives are in the early stages of trying to fill in those unknowns. Still, the relative says he couldn’t imagine anyone would want to harm his neighbor.  “From my experience with him, he’s a pretty nice dude. Whenever I cut the yard, he offered his equipment to help me. Even after Mawar, I had a pretty bad water break; he was helping me dig up the yard to find the water break.

"I don’t know who would have any ill intentions with him," said the relative.

The situation has now left him uneasy, noting, “Just cause it happened so close, and it is my wife’s family. Like I said, if someone were to have ill-intentions with him, they would’ve had to pass through my yard.”

 “We didn’t see anything suspicious, nothing like that.”

In the meantime, Dededo vice-mayor Peter Benavente sharing this message with the northern community following the incident.  “From burning, abandoned vehicles, to structure fires and what not–as a community, we must look out for each other. If you see something, say something," he told KUAM News.

 For the time being, GPD has not yet released the man's identity, and the investigation into his death is underway.