Twiggs County couple dies in house fire

JEFFERSONVILLE, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT) – A house fire early Sunday claimed the lives of an elderly couple.

It happened just before 3 a.m. at a home on D Street.

Glenn Allen, spokesman for Georgia Fire Commissioner Ralph Hudgens, says the fire was reported just before 3 a.m. 79-year-old Herschel S. Odom and his 75-year-old wife Elizabeth Odom were killed.

Investigators determined an electrical malfunction caused the fire, but the exact cause will remain undetermined because of extensive damage to the home.

41NBC spoke with Herschel’s sister, who lived next door, Sunday afternoon.

“Everything he got he wanted to share with Liz,” Estella Sams says. “I don’t care what one bought, but Liz had to have a piece. And, I know, you know, God knows everything so he knows, one didn’t want to leave the other so both of them just went together and I feel like they’re happy.”

The bodies were taken to the State Crime Lab for autopsies.