Excerpts from the Chicagotribune.com:
Firefighters were called to a two-story frame house about 5:45 p.m. Friday in the 9800 block of Hunters Lane in Spring Grove according to Lt. Todd Robel of the Spring Grove Fire Protection District.
“They made entrance to the house and realized it had been burning” possibly for some time, said Robel.
Firefighters found one person dead on the dining room floor. It took firefighters about an hour to extinguish the smoldering blaze. There was no evidence of foul play.
A Saturday autopsy determined Erik K. Whalen-Pedersen, 61, suffered smoke and soot inhalation, according to the McHenry County coroner’s office.
The victim lived there alone and was pronounced dead on the scene. There was evidence a cat also lived there but the pet was not located.
The fire’s cause remains under investigation.
