Firefighters searched the home upon arrival and found nothing but smoke and fire. About 20 minutes after arriving, firefighters searched again. This time they discovered tragedy, with Ostermeier dead in a bedroom where the blaze began and Alexis in another room, lying in a bassinet.

The fire started in the bedroom where Ostermeier was found, but investigators could not determine how. Fire investigators in a draft report say it probably began with a flame applied to “an ordinary combustible,” but stopped short of calling it arson. Rather, the fire was ruled incendiary.

An incendiary fire, as opposed to an arson, could start accidentally – an unattended candle would qualify, says Springfield Fire Chief Ken Fustin.

Citing the pending sheriff’s investigation, Fustin declined comment on any aspect of the fire that killed Ostermeier and her baby.

Despite challenges, authorities have identified Eric A. Fagan, Marc’s 23-year-old brother, as a possible suspect. Officials with the sheriff’s office refuse to name the person of interest they identified months ago. However, Eric himself has told Springfield police that detectives are looking at him, and files show that his brother thinks Eric is guilty.

Marc attacked Eric near Shop ’n Save on North Grand Avenue last May, striking him with a flashlight and spraying him with pepper spray before displaying a handgun, according to a police report taken after a passerby called 911. Eric, who refused to press charges, told officers that his brother had tried shooting him at least once since the fire.

“Eric advised that he is the person of interest in a homicide investigation where Marc’s fiancée and…daughter were killed in a fire,” an officer wrote. “Eric advised Marc believes that he (Eric) killed the two and wants to kill him (Eric) for it.”

Marc declined comment. Eric is now out of Marc’s reach. When city police responded to the beating last May, they found that Eric was wanted for a parole violation, and so he was arrested and remains in Graham Correctional Center at Hillsboro. Prison officials say that he violated a parole condition by traveling outside Illinois.

Due for release next May, Eric could not be reached for comment. Sharyn Elman, Illinois Department of Corrections spokeswoman, refused to arrange an interview – it would take more than a week, she said, and there were no guarantees. Brenda Fagan, Eric’s mother, said that she could not help.

“He doesn’t have anyone on his visiting list,” said Brenda Fagan, who declined a request for an interview about the case.

On Dec. 2, while yellow tape was going up, Eric showed up at the house and approached a sheriff’s deputy, according to a sheriff’s report. He said that he lived nearby and had come by to wash dishes, as was his custom.

But Marc told investigators that his brother was supposed to stop by the house to deliver a nickel bag of pot to Ostermeier, who lived with her mother in Buffalo but was staying in the Springfield house that Marc rented while her boyfriend did a stint in the Sangamon County Jail for failing to appear in court after being caught driving on a suspended license.