Crime & Safety

Prange Fire Update: Man's Death May Be Ruled a Suicide

The investigation is ongoing in the death of Gregory Hetrick, 29, who was one of five pulled from Friday morning's Honey Locust Garden apartment fire.

On Monday, the Summit County Medical Examiner’s Office performed an autopsy on Gregory Hetrick, 29, who died on Friday night after being pulled from the Prange Drive apartment fire. 

It ruled Hetrick’s death was caused by burn injuries, while the manner of death is “tentative as suicide (consistent with self-inflicted injury), pending further investigation,” according to a spokesperson for the examiner’s office.

Hetrick was pronounced dead at 10:15 p.m. Friday in the Akron Children’s Hospital Burn Unit, reports the Falls News Press.

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Firefighters responded at 4:49 a.m. Friday morning and found that a fire had spread through four apartments at , located at 3339 Prange Drive.

Three young girls were rescued along with Hetrick and his mother. All five were taken to local hospitals.

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A 27-year-old Cuyahoga Falls woman was charged with three counts of child endangerment after police discovered she’d been working at the time of the fire and had left her two daughters and niece alone in one of the units.


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