Investigators believe that the cause of the fire was accidental, the Berrien County sheriff’s office said in a news release on Saturday evening. The fire originated in a first-floor room of the motel, where investigators plan to do further forensic testing, according to the news release. The victims were staying in a room on the second floor, and the authorities believe that they died from smoke inhalation. The sheriff’s office contracted a private security company to test the motel’s fire alarm and smoke detector. The motel is near a highway in Sodus, about 200 miles west of Detroit.

Source: New York Times July 28, 2018 19:32 UTC