Saddleback College Fire Death Was Suicide, Coroner Says

A Saddleback College student committed suicide when he died from a fire on campus July 8, according to Kelly Keys, supervising deputy coroner for the Orange County Sheriff's Department.

Jacob Mathews, 21, of Lake Forest, was found in room 356 of the campus' Business/General Studies building. The blaze was started around 6:30 a.m., half an hour before Mathews' first class of the week began.

On Friday, school officials met with investigators "who communicated to (them) how devastated the family is and asked that their privacy be respected," Saddleback President Tod Burnett said.

"No further information can be released until the criminal investigation has been concluded," he said.

Fire authorities said it will likely take months to get to the bottom of exactly what happened.

"They've got to look at a lot of different factors, forensic evidence and just to make sure they got it right," Orange County Fire Chief Kris Concepcion said. "These investigators don't want to put out any information that's incorrect."

Meanwhile the fire department was backtracking on earlier statements that liquid accelerant was found at the scene of the fire: "That was speculation that shouldn't have been made," Concepcion said. "Officially ... this is still under investigation. I'm not even going to be able to confirm accelerant was actually used."

School officials announced the entire Business/General Studies building is now closed for cleaning and repairs. Originally, the basement/first floor remained open for class. Burnett said the building is expected to reopen July 22.

Burnett listed the following campus services for anyone who needs grief counseling and other support:

• Counseling Services Division (949.582.4573) and Student Health Center (949.582.4606): grief counseling and other services
• Crisis Intervention Hotline (949.348.6214)
  
• Employee Assistance Program (949.582.4898): provides free and confidential counseling services for all college and South Orange County Community College District employees.