A woman found dead in a duplex fire early Saturday morning has been formally identified.

Porter County Coroner Chuck Harris said today that identification was made late on Wednesday of Lana M. Bevil, 63, of 910 Portage Ave. in Porter.

Bevil was the presumed victim, Harris told the Chesterton Tribune. X-rays taken after a recent neck surgery were used to make the identification, he said.

“We’re still working on the cause of death,” Harris added, and Dr. Joseph Prahlow, the forensic pathologist in the case, “is still examining tissue samples.”

Meanwhile, the immediate cause of the fire—ruled accidental—remains unknown and will in all likelihood never be known, Porter Fire Chief Lewis Craig said this morning. “The insurance investigator couldn’t find anything more than what we found. It was too burnt out.”

Two causes of the fire, which started beneath a picture window in the front room, are suspected: either the careless use of smoking materials—Bevil was a smoker—or an electrical malfunction, possibly in a lamp by the window.

The fire destroyed the whole of Bevil’s unit of the duplex at 910/912 Portage Ave. and did significant damage to the other unit. Craig has estimated total damage to the property at $120,000 and that to contents at $80,000.

Posted 9/15/2011