By Erica Solvig
and Jane Prendergast
The Cincinnati Enquirer

COLUMBUS - Two Cincinnati college students were among five who died early Sunday in a suspicious fire near Ohio State University - and a third is fighting for his life.

Dennis

Raulin

Andrea Kali Dennis, 20, of Madeira, a graduate of Madeira High School and a student at Ohio University in Athens, and Lakota West grad Kyle Raulin, 20, of West Chester Township, a business major at Ohio State, were killed, their families confirmed Sunday.

Josh Patterson, 20, of Cincinnati, also a Lakota West graduate, is in Ohio State University Medical Center in critical condition, the hospital said.

Families in Madeira and West Chester Township waited all day Sunday to learn that their children - a dean's list journalism student and a former Lakota West sports captain - had died.

Relatives of former homecoming queen Andrea Dennis, 20, knew she went with her Ohio University Alpha Gamma Delta sorority sisters to a 21st birthday party in Columbus at a house on the east side of campus.

When her friends said they couldn't find her after the fire, Dennis' parents scrambled for information throughout Sunday afternoon. When Madeira police came to the door at about 6 p.m. with a number for Columbus police, and a request for dental records, they knew she was dead.

"She was every mother's dream daughter," said her mother, Patty Dennis. "She was brilliant from the time she was a baby. She had so much compassion for people. She just had so much love."

Investigators look around the residence where the fatal fire occurred. (AP/Jay Lapreete photo) | ZOOM |

Kyle Raulin, the 20-year-old sophomore studying business at OSU, also died in the three-story, yellow brick house just blocks from the Horseshoe. The 12 housemates threw the party Saturday night that witnesses said attracted a big crowd and four kegs.

Raulin was a team captain at Lakota West High School of both the soccer and basketball teams before graduating in 2001, said his mother, Janet Raulin. He had played both sports since elementary school.

"He touched a lot of lives," she said.

"He's always the kid you could count on, on the field and on the floor," said Gerry Weisgerber, assistant principal and athletic director at Lakota West. "Both the coaches leaned heavily on him to help the younger players. He was a leader - it's a tragedy."

Police are not releasing the names of the other victims pending the final autopsy results, but another of the dead was identified as Ohio State student Alan Richard Schlessman by his grandfather, Richard Widdoes. Schlessman, who is from Perkins Township, a suburb of Sandusky, is the great-grandson of former Buckeyes football coach Carroll Widdoes, said Richard Widdoes.

About 80 people were at the party that broke up before 3:15 a.m., Sgt. Dana Norman said. About 10-20 were still in the house when the fire started out front. It is being investigated as possible arson.

In all, five students died, two male OSU students and three female OU students, all sorority sisters.

"They were all great kids, all role-model students," said Chris Bolte, an OSU senior from West Chester. "They weren't the kind of students who cause trouble."

In addition to the cause of the fire, police are investigating an argument that happened at the party earlier in the evening.

The two other women killed in the fire and two others hurt were Dennis' sorority sisters at the Athens, Ohio, school the sorority confirmed Sunday night.

Three were injured - two female OU students and a male OSU student, another Lakota West alumnus - Patterson.

Patterson, who also was a soccer player at Lakota, was asleep in his bedroom at the back of the house when the fire broke out. He and his girlfriend Jennifer Lehren, 20, of Centerville, were rescued by firefighters.

Franklin County Coroner Brad Lewis said preliminary indications were that the victims died from smoke inhalation and carbon-monoxide poisoning.

Lehren, also visiting OSU from OU, returned to the fire scene Sunday with her hand bandaged and her hair singed. She and Jillian Gardner both were treated and released.

Beer cans and red plastic cups were strewn across the lawn in the morning, but by evening students were gathering and placing flowers on the walkway of the home.

"Folks drink alcohol all the time in the campus area, both legally and illegally," said Columbus Police Sgt. Brent Mull. "But to say that was a factor in the fire would be inappropriate."

Shelly Davis, Sue Kiesewetter and the Associated Press contributed.

E-mail esolvig@enquirer.com, jprendergast@enquirer.com