Police declare homicide investigation after two bodies found in South Bend house

SOUTH BEND — Police are opening a homicide investigation after two people were found dead in a home on the west side of South Bend earlier this month.

Officers were originally called to a house in the 800 block of North Johnson Street when a woman discovered two bodies in the residence on the afternoon of Aug. 9.

The deceased individuals were identified as 18-year-old Rainie Best and 24-year-old Phil Honer III, and police initially classified the case as a death investigation, not a homicide. However, autopsies conducted on both Best and Honer caused officials to rule their deaths as homicides, police said Monday.

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The South Bend Police Department's Violent Crimes Unit is now taking over the investigation, though police did not say what the autopsies revealed to make detectives believe the pair were killed.

Both victims were from South Bend, though it is unclear if they lived in the house where they were found. South Bend police logs list the pair as living in separate locations in South Bend, though documents from the St. Joseph County Coroner's Office say the pair did live on North Johnson Street.

The documents from the coroner's office list the pair's cause of death as "pending."

Police ask anyone with information to call Michiana Crime Stoppers at 574-288-STOP.

This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: Autopsy results spark South Bend homicide investigation