BETHEL – The Sullivan County Sheriff and District Attorney, in conjunction with the Sullivan County Bureau of Fire, are investigating a possible arson/suicide in the Town of Bethel.
At around 1:09 on Saturday morning, October 3, the 911 center received a call of an explosion and fire at 73 Lake Street in Kauneonga Lake.
The fire department and sheriff’s’ units responded and found a residence at that location fully engulfed, with flames shooting up as high as the tree line.
Two occupants on the second floor and two occupants on the first floor were able to escape without injury.
Firefighters from the Kauneonga Lake, Swan Lake, White Lake, Monticello and Rock Hill Fire Departments responded to the scene to extinguish the fire, with Mobile Medic Ambulance standing by.
At 4:15 a.m., Sullivan County Bureau of Fire Investigators notified sheriff’s deputies that a body had been found in the rubble. The Sullivan County District Attorney and Coroners’ Offices were notified.
Coroner Michael Speer responded to the scene and ordered the body be removed to Garnet Hospital in Harris for a postmortem examination.
Sheriff’s detectives said that at the autopsy conducted on Sunday, the victim was tentatively identified as Gennady Ainshtein, 49, of White Lake. The victim appeared to have died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. While the incident remains under investigation, detectives believe the fire may have been intentionally set.
The sheriff’s office was assisted at the scene by the state police and District Attorney’s Investigators.
