UPDATE: On Friday, Denver Police announced that this is considered a homicide investigation. Crime Stoppers is offering a $14,000 reward for information. Read more here.
DENVER (KDVR) — The Denver Fire Department says five people died in a house fire on Wednesday morning. An arson investigation is underway.
DFD said a toddler, a child and three adults died in the fire. Their identities have not yet been released.
A neighbor says the victims were a man and his wife, their daughter, and the man’s sister and her son.
Three other people — a man, woman and child — jumped from the second story of the home and survived, according to DFD. One of the survivors broke their foot.
According to DFD, firefighters responded around 2:40 a.m. to 5312 N. Truckee St., where they found a heavily involved fire.
Fire investigators, along with the Denver Police Department, are working to determine what caused the fire. DPD says homicide investigators are also on scene.
Whether the smoke detectors were working is part of the investigation. Because the home is in a new neighborhood, it would have been built with a hardwire smoke detector and battery backup.
Family members have set up a GoFundMe to help cover the costs of getting the bodies back to Senegal for a traditional burial.