Locking arms and wearing sunglasses to hide tears, members of Alpha Gamma Delta sorority openly mourned yesterday, gathering on College Green to listen to the announcement that three of their sorority sisters died in a fire near the Ohio State University campus early Sunday morning.
Ohio University officials announced the names of the three OU women killed by the fire during a news conference outside of Templeton Blackburn Alumni Memorial Auditorium. Later, Franklin County Coroner Bradley J. Lewis confirmed that OU students Erin M. DeMarco, 19, of suburban Canton; Andrea K. Dennis, 20, of Madeira; and Christine M. Wilson, 19, of Dublin were three of the five killed in the fire.
The women were OU sophomores. DeMarco was a marketing major; Dennis was a journalism major focusing on advertising management; and Wilson was a retail merchandising major.
Lewis said he has not yet confirmed the identities of the two others in the fire because he is waiting on dental records. But the Associated Press identified them as OSU students Alan Schlessman, 21, of Perkins Township near Sandusky; and Kyle Raulin, 20, of West Chester near Cincinnati.
The fire started at 4:05 a.m. Sunday near the front door of a house on 64 E. 17th Ave. in Columbus, said Chief Mike Fultz of the Columbus Fire Battalion.
Police still have not received confirmation from the fire department regarding the cause of the fire or the possibility of arson, said Sherry Mercurio, public information officer for the Columbus Police Department. The cause of the fire should be verified within the next few days.
The university will help organize a memorial service at an appropriate time to commemorate the deaths of the three women, Dean of Students Terry Hogan said.
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Michelle Simakis
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Amber Lutz reads a note left at the scene of a Sunday morning fire that killed five and injured three others yesterday in Columbus, Ohio.
