Yellow tape is set up around a mobile home Saturday morning, as Coos Bay firefighters mop up a fire and turn over the scene to law enforcement. Firefighters were called to 63610 Andrews Road in Bunker Hill to the home and found it fully engulfed in flames. Inside, they found the body of a man and according to Coos County District Attorney R. Paul Frasier, the fire was caused by arson and the man likely committed suicide.-World Photo by Lou Sennick

COOS COUNTY — The Coos County Sheriff’s Office is investigating an incident from Saturday in which a Coos Bay man apparently committed suicide and attempted to burn down his ex-wife’s home in Bunker Hill.

According to a press release from the Coos County District Attorney’s Office, at about 8:50 a.m. Saturday, a woman arrived at Bay Area Hospital and reported she’d been assaulted at her house by her ex-husband, 46-year-old Sean M. Twomey, of Coos Bay.

A few minutes later, crews from the Coos Bay Fire Department responded to a fire call at the woman’s home at 63610 Andrews Road in the Bunker Hill neighborhood of Coos County, the release said.

A neighbor said that Twomey’s ex-wife, Bridget Twomey, lived in the trailer. A spokesman from Bay Area Hospital confirmed she was at the hospital undergoing evaluation Saturday morning.

Sheriff’s Sgt. Pat Downing referred all questions about the case to the DA’s Office. District Attorney R. Paul Frasier refused to identify the woman.

Once at the scene of the fire, crews found the mobile home fully engulfed in smoke and flames, said Coos Bay Fire Chief Stan Gibson. Three engines and two support vehicles responded. Water hoses to put out the blaze stretched down the length of Andrews Road to the trailer, which is located behind the Jehovah’s Witnesses South Congregation building

“We laid out over 1,500 feet of hose,” Gibson said.

There were no hydrants located nearby, he said. Crews put out the fire within 15 minutes.

Inside the trailer, firefighters found Sean Twomey’s body with a gunshot wound to the head, the press release said. In one of Twomey’s pant pockets, officers found 16 bullets, which matched bullets from the gun.

Fire department officials determined the fire was intentionally started in four different locations in the trailer. Lighter fluid could have been used to fuel the flames, the DA’s Office said.

The fire at the home was definitely arson, Frasier said.

“The fire did not kill him,” Frasier added.

While officers from the Coos Bay Police, Coos County Sheriff’s deputies and an Oregon State Police trooper watched Saturday morning, fire crews removed burned items from a window of the light-blue trailer, throwing them on the ground below.

At about 9:45 a.m., a green SUV barreled through police tape cordoning off the scene and went behind the trailer. Officers rushed to the car and quickly ushered it to the other side of the crime scene where the driver was questioned.

Neighbor Rick Beezley, who said he was a good friend of Sean Twomey, identified the woman in the SUV as Twomey’s daughter. Sean Twomey was taking a recent divorce from his wife pretty hard, Beezley added. According to the Coos County Clerk’s Office records, the couple filed for divorce in spring 2007.

Twomey was distraught following the divorce from his wife last year, the release said. His ex-wife had obtained a restraining order against him and had filed a motion with the court alleging he failed to abide by the divorce decree. The restraining order expired earlier this year. Following the divorce, Twomey was supposed to cooperate in filing a tax return for the couple.

At about 8 a.m. Saturday, he called his ex-wife and said he had paperwork for her, the release said. In addition, he claimed to have parts for a washing machine she had asked him to fix.

The release said “she agreed reluctantly to let him into the home to fix the washer,” and, once inside, Twomey pulled out a gun and threatened to kill her. He then took her into a back bedroom and assaulted her. The woman then left the trailer and drove to Bay Area Hospital.

After she left the scene, officials believe Twomey lit several fires in the home, sat in a chair in the living room and used the gun to commit suicide. No suicide note was found, but several papers in his handwriting were discovered in the trailer indicating his displeasure with the divorce and separation, the DA said.

According to Coos County Assessor’s Office property records, the trailer is owned by Gordon and Patricia Scott of Coos Bay. Gordon Scott was on the scene Saturday, but declined to comment. Neighbors said the home is a rental property.