Manner of death undetermined for man found in Las Vegas building
The Clark County coroner’s office was unable to determine a manner of death for a man whose body was found in a vacant office building that caught fire in early December.
The man, previously identified as 54-year-old Charles Rutter, died Dec. 3 — the morning of the fire — of thermal injuries and “inhalation of productions of combustion,” according to the coroner’s office. He was pronounced dead at the vacant building, 2019 Paradise Road, near St. Louis Avenue.
A manner of death is ruled one of five ways at the coroner’s office: natural, homicide, suicide, accident or undetermined. A case becomes undetermined if investigators are unable to medically explain the cause of death or if the case has conflicting manners of death, according to the coroner’s office.
The door to the single-story office was chained and padlocked, the Las Vegas Fire Department said at the time. It was only after firefighters cut open the lock that they found Rutter’s body just past the doorway.
The cause and origin of the fire remains under investigation with the Fire Department.
Contact Rio Lacanlale at rlacanlale@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0381. Follow @riolacanlale on Twitter.
