Champaign County sheriff’s deputies on routine patrol in the village heard screams and saw flames coming from the home, according to a fire investigation report.
Jordan’s mother, Nicole Lee, 43, and his younger brother, Jevin Edley, 12, tried to go back into the house to get Jordan when deputies first arrived on scene. They told the deputies Jordan was trapped, possibly in a bathroom, deputies said.
The deputies attempted to rescue the teen, but were unsuccessful.
The Ohio State Fire Marshal’s Office took over the probe into what might have sparked the fatal fire.
The report was finalized earlier this month with the official cause listed as undetermined but pointing to evidence the fire began in the living room of the home.
At least one of six electric heaters investigators found was near the living room. Other heaters were found in the bathroom and multiple bedrooms, the report says.
Lee told the fire investigators that the family heated their home solely with the electric space heaters and they ran the machines 24 hours a day in the cold weather, the investigator noted.
No propane was in the propane tank on the property, investigators said.
Deputies who first arrived on scene said they didn’t hear any smoke detectors inside the home. The deputies heard Jordan yelling and banging on a door from inside of the trailer, but when they tried to enter, they were forced back by the smoke.
Jordan was a student at Triad High School.
A connection between Jordan and a kidnapping and assault that happened in November before the fire was referenced in the fire investigation.
One man and three juveniles abducted and assaulted Jordan, deputies told the fire investigator during his work. The men threatened Jordan with death and told him they would put him “in a hole and his body burned.”
Dakota W. Bailey, 19, was sent to prison for a total of three years for two third-degree felony abduction charges, according to court records, but Jordan’s death wasn’t linked to that case.
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