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Authorities use DNA to identify 6 victims of Wisconsin fire

Posted at 1:28 PM, Aug 20, 2019
and last updated 2019-08-20 14:28:21-04

PICKEREL (AP) — Authorities used DNA samples to confirm the identities of six people who died in a June house fire in the small northern Wisconsin town of Pickerel.

The victims include four children.

The Langlade County Sheriff's Office said Tuesday the state's crime lab compared DNA samples from the victims with samples from their family members. The victims have been identified as 37-year-old Amanda Bocek, 32-year-old Raymond Michiel, 7-year-old Nathan Bolding, 3-year-old Johnny Bocek, 1-year-old Jazmin Michiel and 11-month-old Zoe Monoz Soto.

The fire's cause has not been released, but authorities don't suspect foul play. Fire officials said at the time they believed the fire started on the lower level of a multifamily home and spread upward.

The unincorporated community of Pickerel is about 200 miles northwest of Milwaukee.