Chained man rescued from fire

By JIM BUTTS - jbutts@nwherald.com
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CRYSTAL LAKE – A 55-year-old Crystal Lake man was found chained by the neck in the basement of a burning home Tuesday, police said.

After the man was rescued from the building, he told police that he had been confined in the basement of his own free will and was not a victim of a crime, Crystal Lake Police Deputy Chief Dennis Harris said.

“He’s not elaborating on the unusual circumstances,” Harris said. “We have some doubts about the veracity of his story. We are still investigating why he was where he was and is saying what he says.”

Police responded to a call regarding a structure fire at 1398 Dolo Rosa Vista at 7:51 a.m. Tuesday, Crystal Lake police said in a news release.

The first units to arrive met three adults outside the home who said that a man still was in the basement of the burning building.

Firefighters entered the home and found the man with the chain locked around his neck.

The other end of the chain was secured by a padlock to a structural post in the basement, police said.

The man was cut free and taken to a hospital, where he was treated for smoke inhalation and then released. The other three adults who had been in the home were treated at the scene and released, police said.

The man was not unusually dressed, wearing a typical shirt, pants and sneakers, Harris said. There were no obvious signs of criminal activity in the home, he added.

It was unclear to police how the chained man knew the other three people in the home when the fire began.

“We’re not really sure what everyone’s relationship in this is,” Harris said.

No one had been charged with a crime in connection with the incident as of Tuesday evening, police said.

The police department declined to name the people involved because they did not know whether anyone was a victim of a crime, Harris said. The Crystal Lake Police Department typically does not release the names of victims, he said.

“We are diligently looking for the answers at this time,” Harris said. “We, too, have questions and are trying to get answers.”

The fire was brought under control by 8:14 a.m., and fire officials were investigating the cause of the fire Tuesday evening. Harris said arson had not been ruled out.

The fire was in the basement of the home, said Tom Pollnow, a battalion chief with the Crystal Lake Fire-Rescue Department. Pollnow referred all other comment to Crystal Lake police.

Police searched Tuesday night for people they wished to interview in connection with the incident.

The single-family home was heavily damaged in the fire and was deemed uninhabitable.

Working smoke detectors were present in the house, police said.

Fire departments from Crystal Lake, Algonquin-Lake in the Hills, McHenry Township and Woodstock responded to the scene.