Ellworth, Lamoine -
State police are calling a fire that leveled a house in Ellsworth Thursday suspicious, after the owner committed suicide Friday morning.
The fire on Stackpole Way started around 2:30 p.m.
It was called in by the homeowner, 57-year-old Dayton Arey.
State Police spokesman Steve McCausland says Arey and his family were staying at a friend's house in Lamoine overnight.
Arey was married with five children. He was found dead this morning of stab wounds.
McCausland says officials were already concerned about the circumstances of the fire last night, considering how quickly the house burned.
In the aftermath of the suicide, they labeled it suspicious.
Investigators spent Friday back at the house, using an excavator to comb through the rubble.
McCausland says he doesn't expect to release a cause on the fire until next week.