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Death in burning trailer not an accident, GBI says

Web posted May 2, 1998

By Lori Henson
Morris News Service

LYONS, Ga. -- The death of a Lyons woman in her burning trailer April 24 was no accident, said the Georgia Bureau of Investigation and the state fire marshal.

Cynthia Carolyn Higgs, 53, was killed and her house set afire, officials said Thursday.

Mrs. Higgs' body was found in her trailer on Green Oak Road south of Lyons. She and her husband, Larry, had lived in Lyons about six months.

Neighbor Christy Wood said the Higgses were a private family. Mrs. Wood's husband, Ray, was one of the first to respond to the fire.

He ran to the trailer and broke out a bedroom window to see if he could get Mrs. Higgs out of the home.

``As soon as he broke it, the smoke rolled out,'' said Christy Wood. ``(Neighbors) knew if she was in there, she wouldn't live.''

GBI agents in Eastman are investigating the case. They are waiting for autopsy results to be returned in the next few days from the GBI crime lab in Atlanta, said Agent Martin Moses, GBI assistant special agent in charge.

Agents said they have no suspects in the case, and they would not elaborate on details of Mrs. Higgs' death.

Her memorial service and burial were Thursday in Mount Moriah Cemetery in Lyons. Mrs. Higgs, described by her family as a homemaker and a Baptist, was a native of Columbia, Tenn. She moved to Carrollton in 1985 and to Lyons last November.

Higgs is survived by her husband, three sons, Jeff and Rick Arnold of Nevada and Steven Arnold of Camden, S.C. She has six brothers in Columbia, Tenn. and one grandchild.