A Benicia teenager has been arrested in connection with the death of his family, whose remains were found in a burned El Dorado County cabin.
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But authorities suspected foul play, and on September 15, El Dorado County sheriff’s deputies and Benicia police officers visited the Buchanan home on Cambridge Drive in Benicia, and also searched the family construction business, while seizing property.
Sheriff’s investigators interviewed immediate family members in the days after the fire mainly to ask questions about the cabin. Officials added that they do not expect to make any other arrests.
Firefighters were called to fight what was believed to be a wildfire near the family’s cabin in the Sierra Nevada foothill community of Garden Valley on September 13, officials said. While searching the area, it was determined the residence had burned.
Those remains were later identified through DNA analysis as Adam Buchanan, McAfee and Gavin.
D’Agostini said arson investigators and sheriff’s detectives joined in the investigation.
It wasn’t clear whether Nolan Buchanan has an attorney yet who could comment on his case. The son told officers that his father, McAfee and his half-brother had driven to the Greenwood cabin, but he had not accompanied them.
A search warrant carried out at the family home and the father’s construction firm, Buchanan Construction Company, uncovered evidence that contradicted the teen’s claims, the sheriff’s office said. He said the family had been shot before the fire started.
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El Dorado County District Attorney Vern Pierson said Nolan Buchanan has been charged with three counts of murder and will be arraigned in the case on either Friday or Monday. “A father, a son and a mother have all lost their life…”
