SOMERVILLE, Texas -- A 45-year-woman and five children were found dead in a burning house Tuesday, and authorities said they apparently were slain before the house was set afire.
Mike Cox, a spokesman for the Texas Department of Public Safety, said Texas Rangers at the scene about 60 miles northwest of Houston called it a multiple homicide and arson case.
Somerville Police Chief Jewell Fischer was on a patrol call in the neighborhood of the three-bedroom brick house at 3 a.m. when 'he saw the flames throughout the house and turned in the call.'
All the victims were dead at the scene, Cox said.
The dead were identified as Bobbie Davis, 45; her daughter, Nichole, 16, and four of the older woman's grandchildren, ages 4 through 9. They were Jason, 4, Denitra, 9: Brittany, 6, and Leaerin Davis, 5, all children of Bobbie Davis' son. He was not present.
Cox said Bobbie Davis worked for the Texas Department of Mental Health and Mental Retardation's Fannin Unit at nearby Brenham.
Autopsies were underway at the Travis County Medical Examiners Office at Austin, he said.
Cox said the rangers did not disclose why they thought the fire was set or how the victims might have died.
