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DA investigating man's story of fire that killed wife, daughters

The Gwinnett County District Attorney told Channel 2 Action News investigators are looking into inconsistencies in the father's story of a house fire that killed his wife and two daughters.
Kathy Patterson and her two daughters, ages 12 and 9, died in the fire at a house on Pointer Ridge earlier this month. Only Brent Patterson, her husband, escaped.
District Attorney Danny Porter says there are no obvious signs of arson, but the father’s story doesn’t add up.
“We don’t have anybody targeted, but we want to get the truth of how this fire started,” Porter told Channel 2’s Tony Thomas.
Porter says since the day of the fire, investigators have received several inconsistent statements from Patterson. He says there are several theories floating around, and he just wants to get to the bottom of it.
"You could have the theory that it happened exactly as he said it. You could have the theory that he panicked, left the building and never tried to go back in. Or you could have the theory that he intentionally set the fire,” Porter said.
The day after the fire, the fire department came out and said there was no foul play suspected, but Porter says they cannot make that statement at this point.
“I think we can say that it’s under investigation,” Porter said.
The cause of the fire on the initial report is listed as undetermined.
In the hours after the fire, fire department investigators said burn patterns matched “witness statements” and they believed the fire started in the area of an electric-powered reclining couch.
In our interview with Patterson just after the fire, he told us the same thing.
“The fire started in a wall behind the couch so as soon as I opened the door it kind of exploded because I couldn't get back in because it came around and it came up the stairway. And I did everything I could,” Patterson said.
Patterson said he tried breaking out windows and the back door to get back inside, which Porter says may have helped fuel the fire.
Porter says Patterson was a navy vet, and should have known what to do in case of a fire.
“The other thing you've got to look at is everything he did fed the fire. Leave the door open, run around, open the back door, break all the windows out and all the sudden you have a fully oxygenated fire,” Porter said. “Can it potentially be written off that he was just confused and traumatized at the moment? Could be.”
On Thursday, the fire department, Patterson’s insurance company and Porter’s investigators returned to the burned out home to look over the building one last time before it is demolished, which should happen next week.
“There are things about the description of the fire and the way the fire moved that raises questions about how the fire started,” Porter said.

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