One dead in fire at Missouri-St. Louis frat house

ST. LOUIS (AP) -- Fire broke out early Wednesday at a fraternity house near the University of Missouri-St. Louis campus, killing a student.

Police identified the victim as Brian Schlittler, a 25-year-old senior who was from the St. Louis area. He was one of three students living in the small brick and wood-frame off-campus Pi Kappa Alpha house.

"It's a tragedy," university spokesman Bob Samples said. "We want to find out how it happened and work from there."

No one else was hurt. It wasn't clear how the fire began. The St. Louis County bomb and arson squad and Bel-Ridge police were investigating. By midmorning, investigators were using dogs to sniff through the ashes.

Bel-Ridge Police Chief Gordon Brock said one of the residents of the house arrived home at 3:30 a.m. to find a couch on fire in the living room. The student ran through the house, knocking on the bedroom doors of the other two residents.

The student told police he roused Schlittler, who said something in return, indicating to his housemate that he was preparing to leave, Brock said.

"The other two left the house and turned around to see that Schlittler hadn't followed," Brock said. "By the time they turned around, it was too rough to go back in there."

Soon after the fire, dozens of students began congregating outside the fraternity house, many of them crying. Samples said counselors were being brought in to help console students, faculty and staff.

The Pi Kappa Alpha Web site lists 36 active members. Samples described the fraternity, known as "Pike," as a small one. It actually has two houses, the other with four occupants, he said.

The St. Louis campus is one of four in the University of Missouri system. The others are in Columbia, Rolla and Kansas City. Missouri-St. Louis has enrollment of 16,000 students, making it the third-largest campus in the state.

---

AP reporter Chris Leonard provided information for this article.