By Caleb O. Brown
Staff Writer (Snitch Newsweekly)
Dixie Suburban Fire Chief Tim Robbins was nervous, judging from the way he continuously clicked the pen in his hand.
The “informal” meeting last Wednesday was called by Metro Councilwoman Mary Woolridge to, she said, “reassure the folks that are protected by Dixie Suburban Fire District that they have good services.”
It’s been almost five months since the fire on Oregon Avenue, which likely claimed the life of Craig Moore. It’s been just two weeks since a state medical examiner, called in to search the home, “saw a foot” sticking out of the debris in Moore’s basement. Jefferson County Deputy Coroner Jim Wesley said the body has yet to be identified.
Moore’s neighbors don’t need DNA testing to tell them that it’s Craig Moore.
They claim fire and police officials ignored requests that they conduct another search of Moore’s home to find his body.
Robbins spent much of the meeting explaining the circumstances that prevented Dixie Suburban fire officials from getting inside the building.
“It took quite some time to get into all of the areas of the fire,” Robbins said. “When we first arrived, the front door — a solid wood door — was gone. The floor, when we attempted to gain entry, apparently had burned away. We learned later that it had.”
An arson investigator didn’t want to go into the basement. “He said it didn’t look safe,” said Robbins. Ceiling and floor collapse, water in the basement and complications attempting to remove the water also impeded search efforts.
“When I talked with the arson investigators and the insurance investigators,” Robbins said, “they were telling me the same thing, ‘We don’t think he’s in there.’”
Craig Moore’s neighbors said the house was boarded up within a week of the fire. Ron Holder — Moore’s neighbor for 28 years — said other neighbors had circulated a petition within days of the fire, calling on authorities to again search for Moore, but authorities did nothing.
“I knew his routine,” Holder said. “Even the mailman was saying, ‘He’s there.’”
Holder asked Robbins why he didn’t know of all the resources available to him and didn’t learn of one key option until just a few weeks ago.
“When Craig Moore’s brother filed the missing person’s report, he learned from the police that they could have used cadaver dogs from the state medical examiner’s office,” said Holder.
Robbins admitted that Moore’s brother was the one who made him aware that his agency could use the cadaver dogs to conduct a thorough search for the body.
“I now know that if there’s a question like that, I can contact those people,” Robbins said. “I had no guidelines that told me that was the case.”
Deputy Coroner Wesley said his office will likely use DNA testing to learn the identity of the body.
