Crime & Safety

Homicide Victim ID Not Confirmed, Police Say

Mount Pleasant Police are hoping dental records and DNA will lead them to a solid identification of the lone victim found after a Christmas morning fire gutted a home.

The young adult woman whose body was recovered from the scene of an early morning Christmas fire remains unidentified, Mount Pleasant Police say.

According to a written release MPPD sent on Thursday, officials are working with the Wisconsin Department of Criminal Investigation and the Racine County Medical Examiner's office to positively identify the victim using dental records and DNA.

 but because of the burns suffered in the fire, police are unsure if the young woman died in the fire or if the fire was set to cover up her murder.

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While no one is custody yet, police have identified a person of interest.

"Investigators have identified and interviewed a person of interest in this case," the statement reads. "No charges have been issued."

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The Kenosha News, however, is saying the victim may be 21-year-old Bianca Vite. Her father, Mike Vite, is telling the paper that Bianca Vite's ex-boyfriend is being held at the Kenosha County Jail in conjunction with the case.

But Mount Pleasant Capt. Brian Smith reiterated they do not have a positive ID on the victim and no one is in custody in relation to this case.

"There is no positive identification on the deceased party and until we get that, we can't attach any names," he told Patch Thursday afternoon. "As for a potential suspect, MPPD does not have anyone in custody for a homicide or any charges related to this."

Police have leads and are interviewing people, he added.

"Of course we hope these leads bring us to charging someone, but we are nowhere near that point yet," Smith said. "It's premature and maybe a little irresponsible to throw someone's name out there right now when it could turn out that we're wrong."

Patch will update this story as more details become available.


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