Pine Ridge fire victims identified as father, adult son

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PINE RIDGE (AP) – The two people found dead in a fire at their home near Pine Ridge have been identified by relatives as a father and his adult son.

Jackie Mousseaux says her 29-year-old brother, Jason Mousseaux, and her 64-year-old father, Ronald Mousseaux Jr., died when fire swept their trailer home a week ago.

"Jason and my dad were always together" and they almost made it out of the trailer before they died together on the back porch, Jackie Mousseaux said.

Simone Janis, Jackie and Jason's mother, said she began to worry when the two wouldn't pick up their phones.

Janis said her son had complained about the fuse box in his bedroom sparking, even after having an electrician come to fix it. She believes the fire began in his room and Ronald tried to rescue him, according to the Rapid City Journal.

Oglala Sioux Police Chief Robert Ecoffey says the trailer was totally engulfed by the time first responders arrived.

The cause of the fire is being investigated by tribal police, the Bureau of Indian Affairs, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Ecoffey said.