Police name man found dead in burning home

A man found dead after a fire in a Las Vegas home last week was identified Monday by the Clark County coroner's office as Eddie Morell Heckard.

The cause of the 42-year-old man's death remains under investigation, according to the coroner's office. Las Vegas police are treating the death as a homicide.

Police were called to a house on the 1400 block of J Street at 4 p.m. Thursday. When officers arrived, they saw the house was on fire and found Heckard's body inside.

The fire was contained to one bedroom in the home. Police almost immediately suspected foul play.

Dozens of Heckard's family and friends waited for hours behind police tape that day, hoping to learn the identity of the man found dead inside the home. They suspected it was Heckard, who lived there.

Family members grew anxious after they couldn't find him and Heckard failed to answer his cell phone. A woman said to be Heckard's sister collapsed in grief. A cousin of Heckard, frustrated by the lack of answers from police, attempted to run through police tape before family members restrained him.

Margie Jackson, Heckard's aunt, said Thursday that he was kind-hearted, a father of three and a lifetime Las Vegan who made a living buying and selling cars at auctions.

Other family members said he also worked as a club promoter.

Jackson said she didn't know why anybody would try to hurt him.

"He was my favorite nephew," she said.