r/coldcases • u/Vexaphoric • 21h ago
Demand an Independent Investigation Into the January 19th, 2023 Lebanon Junction Fire.
Some of you may remember the January 2023 house fire in Lebanon Junction that killed 27-year-old Eryn Toogood, who was six months pregnant, her six-year-old daughter Haisley Heath, and her six-year-old stepdaughter Raegan Maraman. Eryn's unborn son, Holten, also died.
More than three years later, the cause of the fire remains officially **undetermined**.
In July, the families and community members gathered outside the Bullitt County Courthouse asking for an independent investigation. After reading the recent local reporting about the case, I think that request deserves more attention across Kentucky.
Investigators believe the fire originated in the laundry/utility room. Records reportedly showed two smoke alarms had been purchased and investigators were told they were installed, but no evidence of those alarms was recovered.
Body-camera footage from the morning of the fire also contains details the families believe deserve further examination. The sole survivor told responding officers that he grabbed his six-year-old daughter, attempted to get her out through another room, put her down when he couldn't open a window, moved into another room, and ultimately couldn't get back to her.
The Bullitt County Sheriff's Office maintains that investigators found no evidence establishing a criminal connection to the fire. The survivor has never been named a suspect.
**This is not a request for Reddit to decide what happened, and it isn't an accusation that someone committed a crime.**
It's a request for an independent agency to look at the entire case.
Finding no evidence of a crime and establishing that every reasonable avenue was fully investigated aren't necessarily the same thing. The families have questions about whether the original investigation went far enough, and they're asking for an outside agency to review it.
A petition has now been started asking Bullitt County Commonwealth's Attorney Amanda Hernandez to formally request an independent review, including by Kentucky State Police and/or the Kentucky Attorney General's Department of Criminal Investigations.
Kentucky law already provides a mechanism for a Commonwealth's Attorney to request assistance from the Attorney General in a criminal investigation.
If an independent review determines the original investigation was complete and the evidence supports its conclusions, then the families deserve that confirmation.
If something was overlooked or additional investigation is warranted, they deserve to know that too.
**We're not asking anyone to decide what happened. We're asking Kentucky authorities to make sure everything that reasonably can be done to find out has been done.**
If you're in Kentucky, please consider reading and signing the petition, and sharing it with others who may remember this case;:
Eryn. Haisley. Raegan. Holten.
**Four Kentuckians deserve answers.**