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Restoration company finds man's body inside home weeks after fire

SOUTH FRANKLIN TOWNSHIP, Pa. — A fire restoration company found the body of a man at his Washington County home, three weeks after his house caught fire.

The body of Edward Donald Kerns, 53, was found Monday inside his home on Park Avenue in South Franklin Township, the Washington County coroner said in a news release. The fire happened on Dec. 3.

The coroner and Kerns’ mother both said crews searched the house the day of the fire, but didn’t think anyone was home. Arlene Kerns said crews from the South Franklin Township Volunteer Fire Department even used thermal imaging technology that day, but they didn’t find her son’s body. The family then filed a missing-persons report.

Arlene Kerns said she had been holding out hope that her son was alive. But on Monday, her son’s body was found in a closet buried underneath clothes.

She said she believes he went in the closet for some reason, then died from smoke inhalation. State police told her they believe Kerns became trapped when the thick black smoke filled the home due to an electrical fire.

Kerns' mother said her son was a nurse and had just recently moved back to his hometown.

A determination of the cause and manner of death is pending, and the coroner said Pennsylvania State Police are investigating.