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WARREN -- Warren police have released images of a possible suspect and a vehicle that may have been involved in the Thursday morning arson that killed a teen girl on Nevada Avenue.
The photos provided by detective Michael Altiere appear to show a white man and a large sport utility vehicle.
The family of fire victim Chassidy Broadstone, 16, meanwhile, will be having a memorial balloon-launch vigil at noon today at Packard Park in Warren.
The Warren G. Harding High School junior died in the early morning house fire in the 400 block of Nevada SW.
Harding's lead Principal Sandra Williams said students also will honor her Thursday by wearing her favorite color -- green. She said Chassidy was outspoken and was very protective of her peers.
"She loved to help her fellow students if they were having difficulty in a particular subject. She wanted everyone to get it," Williams said.
Counselors and the school psychologist at Harding will be available throughout next week. The teachers have been informed that students can get the support without asking for permission, Williams said.
Chassidy is remembered by her stepfather as somebody who could be your friend.
"Everybody loved her. She didn't deserve what happened to her," James, the husband of Chassidy's mother Rose Lee Richards, said.
He said Chassidy had a lot of friends at school with whom she liked to hang out. He said Chassidy took care of two house pets that she fed and played with -- a raccoon name Meeko and a bull mastiff puppy named Trip.
Her favorite subject was mathematics, said James, who would not give his last name to the newspaper. Chassidy wanted some day to own and run her own business after getting a degree in college, he said.
"She had a wide range of things she wanted to do," he said. "Chassidy was a different type of person; she went through a range of emotions."
Warren fire Chief Ken Nussle said Chassidy's body was found on the floor of a second-story bathroom. Nussle said the stairwell was incinerated and the three teen girls who were on the second floor at the time could not escape through the first floor.
Chassidy's two sisters had escaped out a second-floor window and jumped off the roof of the front porch. They were taken to area hospitals, and one teen girl remains in St. Elizabeth Youngstown Hospital, according to reports.
James said one of Chassidy's sisters was released Friday from St. Joseph Warren Hospital.
HOMICIDE
An autopsy was conducted Friday morning. Trumbull County coroner Dr. Lawrence D'Amico will make a ruling in the girl's death after getting the results, but D'Amico on Thursday afternoon said this is a homicide investigation and referred all questions to Warren police detectives.
Fire marshal spokesman Andy Ellinger confirmed the fire has been ruled arson. Investigators with the state Fire and Explosion Investigation Bureau are working in conjunction with Warren fire and police departments, ATF and the Trumbull County Medical Examiners' Office in the ongoing investigation, Ellinger said.
For most of the morning Thursday, police officers and members of the state Fire Marshal's Office and the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives agency combed through the rubble resulting from the fire. Reports stated it had started around 2 a.m. in the garage and spread throughout the house.
The state fire marshal's Blue Ribbon Arson Committee is offering a reward of up to $5,000 for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person(s) responsible for the fire that caused Broadstone's death. Anyone who has information should contact the state fire marshal's tip line at 800-589-2728. All information submitted will be treated as confidential.