Fire Claims Life of 23-Year-Old East Dublin Man

EAST DUBLIN, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT) – An overnight fire has claimed the life of a 23-year-old man.

This afternoon, 41NBC’s Tucker Sargent spoke with both parents of the victim, Kenyardo Breshawn O’Neal, and O’Neal’s neighbor, James Passmore.

Passmore says he and his wife woke up just after one this morning to the sound of fire roaring through his neighbor’s home.

“And the first thing I did was call 911,” says Passmore.  “Then I got up and slipped on some clothes and ran out to see if I could get to anybody, you know, if anybody was in there, but I couldn’t get no answer at the door or window, and the fire was just too hot to stay there, so I had to back off.”

Passmore says fire crews arrived on scene at 189 Rex Miller Road in East Dublin within ten minutes, but it was too late.  Laurens County Deputy Coroner, Nathan Stanley, pronounced O’Neal dead around 3:30 a.m.

“No mother wants to have to deal with a situation like what happened last night,” says Brenda Smith, O’Neal’s mother.  “But I feel like, you know, that anything God’s got control of, you just don’t have no questions about it.  And I know He’s gonna help us get through it.”

Investigators are still determining the cause of the fire, but Smith says she has an idea of what happened.

“His brother and his first cousin, they all were together, and they had took him home,” says Smith.  “When he got home, he took out some fish–I guess, you know, to fry it.  Evidently, I don’t know if he turned the stove on and went to sleep or what.  It hasn’t been determined yet.”

O’Neal was a member of the 2006 Dublin High School state championship football team.  His dad, Kenneth, says he used to laugh at how someone so small could run so fast.

“He was the son that I always wanted,” says O’Neal.  “He was just great; he always kept his head up.  You know, I never had any problems with trying to tell him (what to do) or trying to discipline him.  He always listened.  If he didn’t like it, he never talked back, you know, he was just that kind of kid and everybody that comes in contact with him would love him.”

Passmore said he had exchanged hellos with his neighbor, who lived there at the address for about two years, but he never really got the chance to have a conversation.  He says something like what happened last night is depressing, especially because the victim was so young.

“I wish I could have done something to save him,” says Passmore.  “(I) just couldn’t do it.”

Investigators haven’t ruled out unattended cooking was the cause of the fire. 

O’Neal’s body has been sent to the G-B-I Crime Lab in Atlanta for an autopsy.