An engaged couple and the woman's 9-year-old daughter were found dead along with two dogs in the rear bedroom of a western Pennsylvania trailer home after an early morning fire Sunday.
The Indiana County coroner's office identified the victims Monday as Shawn Marsh, 28, Nickole Novak, 27, and 9-year-old Gabbriella Novak.
Firefighters with the Indiana Fire Association were called at about 3:30 a.m. Sunday to the blaze in White Township, about 65 miles east of Pittsburgh.
"The neighbors all sort of agreed that they were awakened by a loud explosion," First Assistant Chief Paul Koons told the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, who called it "a terrible, terrible scene."
Novak's stepfather, Rich Morrill of Butler, said two other young children were staying with relatives and weren't home at the time of the fire.
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"They were both good parents," he said.
Neighbors said Nicole Novak had recently started work at a pharmacy and was teaching her special-needs daughter sign language. Marsh, her husband-to-be, had a tree-service business. The girl liked to draw, play video games and watch cartoons, Rich Morrill said.
"She was a really sweet little girl," neighbor and friend Amanda Rearick said. "(Novak) was really close with Gabby."
Autopsies are scheduled on the victims. The cause of the fire remains under investigation.
