A sheriff’s report shows that Marc took the news hard when investigators visited the jail hours after the tragedy, slumping forward in a chair when Boone told him that his daughter and girlfriend had died.

“Marc became very upset and began to cry and repeated several times ‘They are dead?’” a deputy wrote in a report.

Marc told investigators that his dog would not allow a stranger in the house. Rowden says that her daughter took security seriously.

“She always kept the door locked over there,” Rowden said.

The front door was locked when firefighters arrived after receiving the 911 call shortly before 2 p.m., but the back door was open, according to a fire department report. Marc told investigators that he and Jade never used the back door and kept it locked.

With investigators listening to his side of the conversation, Marc called his brother from jail hours after learning the news. According to a police report, Eric told his brother that he had visited the house at 12:30 p.m. or noon and found no one home. Ostermeier’s 1994 Oldsmobile was gone when firefighters arrived, and Marc told investigators that Eric said the car was missing when he stopped by.

Marc told investigators that Ostermeier had the only keys and would not loan her car to anyone. Rowden also said that her daughter wouldn’t loan her car, and so it was reported stolen. Investigators found it five days later, parked nine blocks away.

Investigators have shown an interest in Eric since at least April 7, when a detective assigned to the investigation pulled him over a half mile from his home on North Hill Street for driving on a suspended license and having no insurance. The car was impounded while Eric was taken to jail, but he bonded out within hours and retrieved the vehicle, prompting another citation for driving on a suspended license that day by another detective assigned to the investigation. The second detective didn’t pull Eric over, but witnessed him driving away from the impound yard, Campbell said.

“We did want to talk to him, as we talk to a lot of people,” Campbell said. “Eric was on the (fire) scene – he was in the back yard holding Marc’s dog. We would want to talk to anyone who was that close to the scene.”

Sheriff’s detectives have cleared Marc, Campbell said. Eric has been deemed uncooperative by detectives.

“They feel that he’s not being forthcoming with all that he knows,” Campbell said.

Although Campbell wouldn’t reveal the name of the person of interest identified by detectives, he said that the person is in state prison on unrelated charges.

Police and court files show that Eric is hardly a criminal genius. He dropped out of Southeast High School in the 10th grade after earning a 1.03 GPA his freshman year. His record goes back to age 14, when he received counseling and a warning for obstructing police and possessing burglary tools.

In 2005, Eric was arrested for slashing tires randomly as he walked along 10th Street with a friend near his home. At the time, he was free on bond with two felony cases pending, including one for possessing a loaded handgun and another for obstructing justice, a charge that stemmed from allegedly releasing pit bulls on sheriff’s deputies who served a search warrant at a home where he lived with his mother and at least one brother, who were also arrested. Deputies tasered Eric and a dog.

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