The Solano County Sheriff's Office has identified a man who was found dead at a fire at a nursery in Solano County outside of Vacaville earlier this month as 43-year-old Robert L. Thomas III of Fairfield.
Thomas' death is considered a homicide and the sheriff's office and Solano County arson investigators are still investigating the case, sheriff's Deputy Daryl Snedeker said.
[Previous: Deputies Hope Homicide Victim's Tattoo Will Lead To His Identity.]
The two-alarm fire on July 9 at the Mercier California Grapevines nursery at 6760 Pleasants Valley Road burned and melted stacks of plastic storage bins, milk jug-size plastic planters and the wood framing and contents of a three-sided equipment shed, Vacaville Fire Protection District Chief Howard Wood said.
The body was found near the burned debris of the shed, Snedeker said. The death is being investigated as a homicide because the body was found next to a structure that was not a residence, Snedeker said.
No other structures at the nursery burned, he said. The fire district was called about the fire at 3:27 a.m. and arrived 12 minutes later, Wood said. The blaze was controlled in 90 minutes, he said.
The manager of the nursery lives on site, Wood said.
The Vacaville Fire Department and Cal Fire also responded to the fire.
Mercier California Grapevines exports grapevines internationally and has been at the location near Vacaville since 2006, according to its website.
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Body Found at Scene of Grapevine Nursery Fire Near Vacaville.
Arson & Homicide Detectives At Scene of Nursery Fire in Vacaville
Deputies Hope Homicide Victim's Tattoo Will Lead To His Identity.
--Bay City News
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