Double homicide suspected in mobile home fire

Monday, December 10, 2012

EWING, Nebraska -- An early morning fire at a trailer house in Antelope County led authorities to the discovery of two bodies and the arrest of a male suspect.

Just after midnight on Saturday, the Antelope County dispatch received a 911 call of a domestic dispute possibly involving weapons at a home in rural Antelope County. Deputies from the Antelope and Holt County Sheriff's Offices along with troopers from the Nebraska State Patrol responded to the scene. As they were approaching the area of the initial call, dispatch informed them the Ewing Fire Department was responding to a 911 call of a fire in the same vicinity 1 ½ miles east of Ewing on County Road 857. Upon arrival at the scene, deputies found a trailer home engulfed in flames.

Deputies were told by a male resident who escaped the home that two people may still be inside. Once the fire was extinguished, two bodies were discovered in a bedroom in the southwest corner of the residence. The male resident who escaped the fire was un-injured and released after questioning.

Around 1 a.m., Holt and Antelope County deputies responded to a residence in rural Ewing where they took Matthew Hinrichsen, 33, Ewing into custody for questioning in connection with the fire and deaths of the two people in the trailer home. Hinrichsen remains in custody at the Madison County Jail without bond.

The bodies of the two victims were transported to St. Luke's Medical Center in Sioux City, Iowa. The names of the victims are not being released pending autopsy results, positive identification and notification of relatives. The Nebraska State Patrol is assisting the Antelope County Attorney, the Antelope and Holt County Sheriff's Offices and the State Fire Marshal in the investigation.

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