LEXINGTON COUNTY, S.C. — New details are becoming available regarding the fatal fire in the 1200 block of Charles Town Road in Lexington County that claimed the life of Craig Raymond Kustermann.
The Lexington County Sheriff's Department (LCSD) released the incident report from Monday, Sept. 9. In it, it states LCSD deputies had been called to the Charles Town Road location, about five miles southwest of Pelion, around noon after Kustermann's in-home caregiver requested a welfare check after being unable to make contact with him when she arrived at the home earlier that morning.
Deputies were alerted while enroute to the location that Lexington County Fire Services (LCFS) had also been dispatched to Kustermann's address. When LCSD deputies arrived at the scene, the fire department was already there battling a blaze that had totally engulfed the home. The damage to the home was total -- the roof had collapsed and several supporting walls were no longer standing.
After the fire was extinguished, LCFS located Kustermann inside the home. At that point, because of the fatality, the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (SLED) arson unit was called to investigate the source of the fire.
Kustermann, 54, had been wheelchair-bound and nearly immobile after the Type-1 diabetes-related amputation of his left leg. He had no immediate family members to care for him and the caregiver the called in the welfare check had only just been assigned to him three says prior to the fire.
An autopsy is scheduled for Thursday at MUSC in Charleston.
SLED and LCSD continue to investigate the incident.
