Above: Aerial imagery of a property at 294 John Lockwood Road where two bodies were found Tuesday (highlighted in blue on the map). Source: Delaware County Community Online Mapping Tool.
On Tuesday afternoon, police conducting a criminal investigation at a house in Walton arrived to the sound of gunfire and the house in flames. Two bodies were found in the house, and have yet to be identified.
According to a release from the New York State Police issued on Wednesday, Delaware County Sheriff's Office senior investigator Karl Vagts and Walton Police Department chief Brian Laauser were on the scene around 2pm on Tuesday at 294 John Lockwood Road, a dead-end road in a rural neighborhood. While the officers were outside the house, two gunshots were heard from within.
Vagts and Laauser entered the house, where they found a woman dead on the second floor, and flames beginning to engulf the building. Fire companies from Walton and Delhi arrived to put out the fire. After the fire was extinguished, the remains of a second body were found in the basement.
The bodies have been taken to Lourdes Hospital in Binghamton to be identified.
Delaware County undersheriff Craig DuMond declined to speak about the case, which is being investigated by the New York State Police.
Anyone with information is requested to contact the New York State Police at (607) 561-7400. All calls will remain confidential.
Update: The Walton Reporter's Lillian Browne visited the site and got some photos of the charred structure, and a brief video interview with Walton fire chief Bob Brown (below).
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