A Dawes County official has released the name of a man whose body was found by firefighters battling flames in a Chadron apartment.
County Attorney Vance Haug said in a news release Friday that the victim has been identified as 47-year-old Bradley Morris, who lived in the apartment. Haug says an autopsy shows Morris died of smoke inhalation.
Firetrucks were sent to the old Blaine Hotel a little after 8 p.m. Wednesday. Fire Chief Pat Gould says flames were contained to a single second-floor apartment, but there was smoke damage to the second and third floors.
Haug says the fire started on a couch, likely because of an unattended cigarette.
