ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, April 10, 1997 TAG: 9704100016
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
DATELINE: RADFORD
SOURCE: LISA K. GARCIA THE ROANOKE TIMES
Family believes fire was not an accident; police say no evidence to support arson theory.
Radford University senior Christopher T. Mirch's died of smoke inhalation. The cause of the Feb. 24, 1996, fire at Mirch's Radford house, however, was never determined.
Mirch's family does not believe the fire was an accident and has spent the last several months pursuing leads that make them believe the fatal fire was set. Now they are offering a $1,000 reward to help convict the person or people they believe set the fire.
Joyce Mirch, Christopher's mother, said her family will not have closure until they have scoured the community for information.
"What we kind of feel like is if this was a deliberately set fire ... justice needs to be served," Mirch said. "I'm sure they didn't mean to kill someone, but they did."
The fire started on the porch of a Grove Avenue house, divided into apartments, where Mirch lived with friends. All the young men were members of an unofficial fraternity called Delta Tau Chi.
Fire investigators found no accelerants - flammable substances that could speed the spread of the flames - on the porch. They did find cigarette butts and sawdust as well as a gasoline-filled can with paint brushes soaking in it in the nearby kitchen.
Rumors spread quickly that the fire was not an accident, and had been set.
But the local fire marshal and Virginia State Police, along with Radford police, concluded there was no evidence of arson and the fire was simply "a tragic accident."
Jonny Butler, Radford's deputy police chief, said his department is never really going to close the book on any case involving a death, just in case new information comes out.
"At this point, we still don't see anything to tend to indicate arson," Butler said this week. "But we are always open for new evidence."
Joyce Mirch said the family has hired an investigator and they have tracked her son's actions the night of the fire. He did not get in any type of argument with anyone, but began his evening with one of his favorite pastimes - running. He came home and later went out with friends to a party.
Mirch said she does not, therefore, believe that if the fire was set that it was a personal attack on her son.
"I just want to find out who did this, if anyone," she said.
In an effort to get to the bottom of the rumors, the Mirch family is offering a $1,000 reward for information that leads to the arrest and conviction of anyone responsible for setting the fire. An ad ran in the university student newspaper, The Tartan, last week and will run again Friday. The ad includes three phone numbers for people to call: (703) 802-9742, (703) 801-5851 and (540) 668-7052. The names of all callers will be kept confidential.
Mirch said the first ad has already brought in several calls that she greatly appreciates.
"Sometimes people don't realize they have information that would help," she said.
Mirch said she realizes her son had been drinking the night of the fire, but that had nothing to do with how or why he died.
An autopsy showed the senior from Centreville in Fairfax County had a blood-alcohol content of 0.25 percent, more than three times the legal limit for driving.
Joyce Mirch said her son's chances for survival were slim, given where he was found in the house - directly above where the fire originated.
"It would have taken only a couple of breaths [of smoke] and he would have been out," she said.
Firefighters found Mirch lying on a bathroom floor about 2 a.m. He was pronounced dead at a hospital about an hour later.
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