Cause of Lake Ozark house fire that claimed the lives of four brothers undetermined

The cause of a Lake Ozark house fire that claimed the lives of four brothers has been deemed undetermined.

According to official documents obtained by ABC 17, “A discarded cigarette, spark from the fire pit or BBQ grill were all unable to be eliminated as a cause of the fire. This fire is therefore classified as being undetermined in nature.”

Tyler Otto, 14, Cason Otto, 8, Max Otto, 5, and Levi Otto, 4, were found dead inside of the house. The boys’ cause of death was related to smoke inhalation.

The mother of the boys, Christina Brazil, and her boyfriend came home from a bar and found the home on fire.

When interviewed by authorities, Brazil said they used a glass ashtray on the wooden deck when smoking and there were two fuel cans on the wooden deck, but both should’ve been empty or had little fuel inside.

Mike Andrews, Christina Brazil’s boyfriend, stated that he had grilled and lit the fire pit for people they invited over outside to keep warm before they left for the bar.

The documents say that adults were drinking and would also smoke cigarettes outside. Andrew’s told authorities that both the grill and the fire pit were on the large wooden deck.

Around 8:30 p.m., everyone had finished eating and allegedly decided to go to a local bar. Mr. Andrews said he threw a full pitcher of water on two remaining logs in the fire pit that were still burning.

Andrews said they left the boys at home and went to the bar.

Andrews stated in the documents that while at the bar, they tried to call Tyler’s cell phone to make sure things were going okay, but his phone went to voicemail.