Crime & Safety

Update: Three Victims Identified in Apartment Fire

Tragic discovery nearly 12 hours after blaze.

Update, 11:35 p.m.: The Charleston Post and Courier reports that a meth lab was found in the remains of one of the units destroyed in the fire, but would not say whether it was where the fire started.

News 2 has an interview with the grandmother of Samuel Garbe, the four-year-old who died in the fire.

Update, 3:15 p.m: Berkeley County Coroner Bill Salisbury has identified the three victims in Thursday's apartment complex fire at Pine Harbour.

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The victims include Joseph Raeth, 69; Samuel Garbe, 4; and Morgan Abernathy, 19.

According to Salisbury, Abernathy and Garbe were found in the same apartment. Raeth was in the apartment next door.

Find out what's happening in Goose Creekfor free with the latest updates from Patch.

The cause of death is pending test results, Salisbury said.

Update, 11 a.m.: The Red Cross has now assisted 44 individuals, including 21 children, according to the organization.

Sixteen disaster volunteers are working with the families and a volunteer is on the scene at the apartment complex to help people who weren't able to speak with the Red Cross on Thursday night.

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First Report: A third body was found early Friday at the Pine Harbour Apartments — the scene of a tragic afternoon fire Thursday that left eight families homeless.

According to Coroner Bill Salisbury, the body was found shortly after midnight. An autopsy will be conducted to determine the cause of death.

Salisbury announced late Thursday that a man and a child had been found dead in what remains of the building. The blaze that damaged more than a dozen units is being investigated as a crime scene, according to the Berkeley County Sheriff's Office, with the help of state and federal drug agents.

Fire crews from the surrounding area began working the large fire early Thursday afternoon. Live 5 News has raw video from the blaze. News outlets, including ABC News 4, are reporting that one man is being questioned in the case.

Volunteers with the Red Cross have assisted 36 people affected by the fire, including 17 children. They provided canteen service to more than six fire departments responding to the scene 

Eight families were displaced in the fire, according to the Red Cross. The organization has opened a shelter at the Goose Creek Community Center to assist the victims.

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