STPSO: Woman whose body was found in Lacombe-area house fire had gunshot wound

ST. TAMMANY PARISH, LA (WVUE) - The St. Tammany Parish Sheriff's Office is investigating the death of a Lacombe-area woman after an autopsy revealed her death was not caused by the fire that engulfed her home late last week.

Shortly after 2:30 p.m. on Friday, July 14, St. Tammany Parish Sheriff's deputies were dispatched to the home on Philip Smith Road in Lacombe. Fire personnel from several fire districts and representatives from the Louisiana State Fire Marshal's Office were also dispatched to the home, which was fully engulfed in flames when the first units arrived.

After extinguishing the fire, a badly burned body was located inside the residence. The body was immediately turned over to the St. Tammany Parish Coroner's Office, which conducted an autopsy.

The St. Tammany Parish Coroner's Office used DNA to positively identify the body as that of Nanette Krentel. The autopsy also revealed a gunshot wound and determined that her death was not caused by the fire.

Detectives with the STPSO Major Crimes Unit are working the death investigation, which remains ongoing.

The fire investigation is being handled by the Louisiana State Fire Marshal's Office.

Krentel was the wife of St. Tammany Fire District No. 12 Chief Stephen Krentel.

"On behalf of our fire district 12 family and the chief colonel's family, we're asking that everybody be mindful of their privacy and respect their privacy at this time. It's a big grieving process that we're going through," District 12 spokesman Kris Hines said. "We've got the utmost respect for the agencies and their professionalism. We know that they're doing what they have to do. We just want it to be thorough and as professional as possible. We want the information to come right. We don't want anything to be rushed."

Anyone with information about the case is asked to call Detective Daniel Buckner at 985-898-2338.

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