Was third person inside home that exploded in Burlington? Investigators work "diligently" to determine that

BURLINGTON -- More than 48 hours after a house exploded in Burlington in Racine County, crews on Monday, May 16th were still searching for clues, and also working to determine whether there was a third person inside the home when it caught fire and exploded on Saturday, May 14th.

Investigators have already recovered the bodies of two people at the scene on Ketterhagen Road.

All day on Monday, investigators and canines combed through the rubble after the explosion and fire, which officials say are suspicious.

"In the charred remains of what once was a beautiful two-story farm home, we have a second victim," Racine County Sheriff Christopher Schmaling said.

Schmaling said investigators have been told a third person was inside the home on Saturday.

"My efforts have shifted to trying to locate this alleged third victim, to bring closure to his or her family, and also to determine the cause and origin of this fire and why it explode," Schmaling said.

The explosion and fire happened on Ketterhagen Road just after 3:00 p.m. Saturday.

"It was like seeing a small Hiroshima. That's what it reminded me of," Thomas Boyle said. "It was right out the window, so I saw this big, black ball of smoke go up in the air, and I didn`t have any idea what it was."

"The whole house just shook. It just shook. You could just feel it, almost like it could lift you up," Michael McCann said.

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A relative of one of the victims killed in this incident, too distraught to speak on camera, told FOX6's A.J. Bayatpour she has lost three relatives, and that her only hope now is that the family dog, Fassa, survived the explosion, ran off and someone has him.

Schmaling said that is one of many questions investigators are trying to answer.

"We are gonna work diligently and methodically to make certain, at the end of the day, we can explain to the victims` families who they are and what happened and, to the best of our knowledge, why this occurred," Schmaling said.

Schmaling said autopsies were performed Monday on the two people whose bodies have been found. He said investigators are trying to identify those victims through DNA.