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Body found after New Port Richey house fire, but victim not identified

 
The day after a New Port Richey home burned down, officials on Wednesday found a body in the wreckage but did not identify that person. [ZACK SAMPSON  |  Times]
The day after a New Port Richey home burned down, officials on Wednesday found a body in the wreckage but did not identify that person. [ZACK SAMPSON | Times]
Published Oct. 12, 2017

NEW PORT RICHEY— Firefighters and deputies clogged Leisure Lane early Wednesday as they continued the search for a woman who may have died in a house fire the night before.

The second floor of 5540 Leisure Lane had partially collapsed into the first floor, making it difficult to look through the rubble. Crews brought a small front end loader to the scene about 9:30 a.m. They found a body about 3 p.m. but did not identify that person.

The night the fire broke out on Tuesday, Bruce Hansen told the Tampa Bay Times that he returned from a nearby pharmacy to find his home in flames. He tried calling his wife, Cherie, 57, but could not reach her.

"I don't know what happened," said Hansen, 60. "I don't know if she got out."

Authorities still could not confirm Wednesday morning if Cherie Hansen was the person missing in the fire, which broke in a neighborhood near U.S. 19 and Gulf Boulevard. They did not say what caused the fire, either.

PREVIOUS COVERAGE: One person missing after fire collapses home in New Port Richey.

Sandra Cartwright said she was working at a nearby Cracker Barrel when customers ran in and said a house was on fire nearby. Cartwright lives across the street from Hansen and hurried home. She returned to find her house unscathed despite the growing flames across the street.

When she talked to Bruce Hansen, Cartwright said, he seemed to be in shock.

"I can't describe that look on the face," she said.

Cartwright, 49, said she has lived across from Cherie and Bruce Hansen for more than a year. They made neighborly chit-chat, shared coffee but mostly kept to themselves.

It was unclear how many people lived in the home. Three people who lived on the first floor said Tuesday they made it out safely but were missing a chihuahua.

Firefighters spent all night at the scene. Come morning, the air smelled only faintly of ash.

Battered mobile homes line Leisure Lane. Neighbors said addicts, drug dealers and prostitutes are common. The area is near the border of Pasco County and the city of New Port Richey. City leaders have raised alarm this year over blight and crime spilling out from Leisure Lane into Southgate Center and Gulf Harbors. The county has targeted the neighborhood for cleanup, condemning derelict properties.

Amid the rubble of Hansen's house, a handmade sign was affixed to a fence post: "Please no drugs in or around property."

Daniel Datema, 55, said he was friends with the Hansens and had come down from Michigan on Monday to help them clean up from Hurricane Irma. A couple pieces of the roof had blown off, he said, and he was going to help get the pool in the backyard into shape.

Datema said he and Hansen had gone to a Sunoco after the pharmacy Tuesday evening when Hansen saw smoke.

"It's my house," Datema recalled his friend saying. "Get in."

They hopped in the van and hurried back. Authorities were already there.

"It was so hot and so bad," Datema said. "I was just worried about Cherie. They wouldn't let me back there."

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Datema said he went around to U.S. 19 and crawled through the woods to the backyard, where he was going to stay for a few weeks in a trailer. He called her name. No response.

By Wednesday afternoon, he said, deputies and fire officials still had not confirmed to them that Cherie was dead.

"I know," Datema said. "Bruce knows."

Contact Zachary T. Sampson at zsampson@tampabay.com or (727) 893-8804. Follow @ZackSampson.