The sister of the 62-year-old ex-convict at the center of the murder of two firefighters early Monday in Webster, N.Y. remains unnacounted for, the Associated Press reports.
William Spengler, who spent more than 17 years in prison for the 1980 murder of his 92-year-old grandmother, allegedly set fire to a car and a house in the Rochester, N.Y. suburb and then opened fire on the first responders. Two firefighters were killed on the scene and two more were hospitalized for wounds sustained by the gunshots. Spengler was found dead at the scene, the result of an apparent suicide.
The fire engulfed seven houses, including the one Spengler shared with his 67-year-old sister, Cheryl Spengler.
From the A.P.’s report:
Seven houses were destroyed in the blaze, Pickering said, and police have not been able to get inside the houses to determine if there are any more victims. They said Spengler’s 67-year-old sister Cheryl Spengler was unaccounted for. He lived in the house with his sister and mother, Arline, who died in October.
The West Webster Fire District learned of the fire early Monday after a report of a car and house on fire on Lake Road, on a narrow peninsula where Irondequoit Bay meets Lake Ontario, Monroe County Sheriff Patrick O’Flynn said.
The fire appeared from a distance as a pulsating ball of flame glowing against the early morning sky, flames licking into treetops and reflecting on the water, with huge bursts of smoke billowing away in a brisk wind.
