Police identify burned body

The Houma Police Department and the Terrebonne Parish Coroner’s Office have identified the remains of a body found during a fire last week at a house on 1143 Roussell St.

According to the Houma Police Sgt. Dana Coleman, the body belonged to 19-year-old male, Patrick Schindler, a native of Livermore, Ky.

Schindler had a troubled stay in Houma, having pleaded guilty earlier in the month to stalking a local woman.

Coleman said his office is unaware of how long the teenager had lived in Houma and inside the building, which had long been abandoned.

“That information is not available to us currently,” Coleman said. “But we can confirm that the body was Schindler.”

According to reports in the coroner’s office, Schindler died in the building during the fire from smoke inhalation.

The coroner’s office initially had a difficult time to identify the body because of how badly it was damaged in the blaze.

But the police were able to match dental records and identify the Kentucky teenager.

The fire occurred last Monday near midnight at the Roussell Street location.

Officials with the fire department are not yet able to pinpoint how the fire occurred, but it was apparently a hazard-area, because the building had burned before.