A mother, her son and his girlfriend are said to have been murdered in a house in Texas and then set on fire.
Kelly Masciarelli, 54, Kolin Foster, 23, and Cameryn Richard, 21, were found dead Sunday morning in Masciarelli’s home in Harris County, Texas, following a still-unexplained house fire.
Investigators arriving at the Cypress Mill Park community believed all three were dead before the fire started and ordered autopsies.
Until then, there will be no official cause of death for the trio. Investigators added that they hope surveillance videos seized in the suburban area will shed more light on the incident.
The condition of the bodies at the time of their discovery remains unknown, but according to Sergeant Michael Ritchie, their deaths were not accidental and the search for a suspect or suspects is ongoing.
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Kelly Masciarelli, 54, died sometime before the fire at her Texas home on Sunday morning, police said
Cameryn Richard, 21, was also found dead in the residence, along with her boyfriend, Masciarelli’s son
“We are willing to say that these individuals looked like they were already dead before the fire started,” the Harris County Sheriff’s Sergeant said Sunday outside the Cypress home.
“So this is definitely a murder and not an accidental death by fire or smoke inhalation,” he concluded.
An old red Corvette that was towed from the scene is now “an area of interest” for investigators, he added. It was found in the driveway of the $350,000 four-bedroom home and did not appear to be burned.
After the seizure, investigators simply stated that Foster, who had celebrated his 23rd birthday weeks earlier, had just purchased the car and that the previous owner had nothing to do with the fire or the alleged murders.
Officers also said they believe Foster was not the last driver. A neighbor told Click2Houston he heard a car door slam before police arrived.
Others said they didn’t hear anything before the house fire broke out and first responders were called around 7 a.m.
Officers quickly determined the fire was arson, Major Saul Suarez said, before one of his detectives provided information on a possible suspect.
The third victim, Kolin Foster (left), had just celebrated his 23rd birthday. He is seen here with a family friend. Police said her death was neither an accident nor the result of smoke inhalation.
The fire broke out sometime before 7 a.m. Sunday morning at Masciarelli’s home in Harris County, Texas, and remains unexplained. The cause of the fire is suspected to be foul play.
Cameryn Richard, 21, was in the house with her mother and son before the fire broke out and also died
Suarez said, “Upon arrival, our homicide team also observed that the bodies showed signs of foul play and injuries,” as officers from Harris County’s Fourth Precinct worked around him.
Also present were members of the Harris County Fire Protection District, who managed to contain the fire before it could spread.
Neither agency released information on the status of their investigation Monday morning, but Deputy Fire Chief Mitchell Weston said most of the home’s interior was damaged.
He could not say what the cause of the disaster was. The residents of the community, which is located almost 50 kilometers outside of Houston, are also at a loss.
“It was a little unusual,” a neighbor told Click2Houston as investigators found one of the bodies on the ground floor of the house while the other two were found upstairs.
The outlet also reported that an investigator placed evidence markers near a fence in a park behind the house – a route that Sergeant Ritchie said an as-yet-unidentified suspect likely took when he fled the home.
He also said that an accelerant was used to start the fire and that killers often set fires to destroy evidence.
Foster, 23, and his girlfriend Richard, 21, recently rang in Foster’s birthday and celebrated the occasion with a kiss
Sergeant Ritchie said on Sunday that investigators believe a suspect fled through the back of the house after the arson and that there was little doubt that the three were murdered.
An old red Corvette belonging to the son was towed from the crime scene and is now “an area of interest” for investigators
It was found in the driveway of the $350,000 four-bedroom home and did not appear to be burned in the slightest. Investigators said only that Foster, who had celebrated his 23rd birthday weeks earlier, had just purchased the car and that the old owner had nothing to do with the incident.
An investigator was observed placing crime scene markers near a fence in a park behind the house – a route that Sergeant Ritchie said a suspect likely took while escaping the house.
Officers also said they are confident Foster was not the last person to drive the car. A neighbor told Click2Houston he heard a car door slam before police arrived.
“It’s hard to say at this early stage of the investigation, but I believe there is still enough evidence,” he said as the manhunt for the possible suspect began.
“As you can see, the house behind me is still intact. It is not completely burned down. Not everything in it was destroyed.
“So we managed to secure some evidence.”
He added that it was still unclear whether the suspect had accomplices, but he and his colleagues hoped that evidence recovered from the Corvette would lead to an arrest.
After the fire was extinguished, officials from all three agencies continued to comb the area for several hours, several media outlets reported.
A photo posted by Cameryn two weeks ago shows her and Foster celebrating his birthday.
She accepted a kiss from her lover and wished him, “Happy birthday, Stinky.”
The police investigation was still ongoing on Monday.
