THE DALLES, Ore. — Authorities in The Dalles say a man who was being evicted in foreclosure proceedings committed suicide by inhaling smoke from the house fire he’d set.
The man has been identified as 59-year-old William J. Rengigas.
Acquaintances said he feared foreclosure and worried over the fate of his dogs.
A sheriff’s deputy and a real estate agent went to his home in the Columbia River town Monday to give him 15 minutes to leave.
The Dalles Chronicle reports that shots were fired inside the house, and soon it began burning.
After the fire, authorities found the bodies of Rengigas and his two dogs inside. One dog had been shot.
The medical examiner ruled it suicide, saying Rengigas could have left to avoid the smoke but didn’t.
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