UPDATE: Family speculates woman may have died before fire destroyed home

LEWIS COUNTY, Ky. (WSAZ) -- A fire leveled a house Thursday afternoon in Lewis County. A woman's body was found inside, but the family says they believe it may not have been the flames that took her life.

Neighbor Edward McMahan was driving by on Old Trace Hill when he saw the fire raging.

"It was too far gone by the time we got here," he said. "The whole front of the house was in flames."

He wasn't sure if 51-year-old Paula Kilgore, who lived there alone, was home or not.

"I was beating on the back door trying to get somebody to come to the door," he said.

Firefighters later found Kilgore's body inside.

"She was just a wonderful girl, a good Christian lady," McMahan said.

Kilgore had quit her job as a therapist a few years ago to take care of her father, who lived next door. He died a month ago.

"She was making really good money when she had to quit to take care of him because he had Alzheimer's," Kilgore's aunt Debra Enix said. "Family came first."

Enix says she believes signs are pointing to her niece being dead before the fire started.

She says Kilgore missed an appointment earlier in the day and hadn't been answering phone calls hours before the fire started.

"She hadn't been feeling well for like two weeks," Enix said. "I think maybe she had a heart attack, a stroke, something."

She says that thought does bring some sense of relief.

"It's bad either way, but at least that is a little easier on your mind knowing she didn't have to suffer through that," she said.

The cause of the fire has not been determined, but investigators say the house was heated with propane.

The family says they're waiting for the results of the autopsy.

"She told me once everyone should always tell their family they love them," Enix said, "because you never know when you're going to get to see them again, or if it's going to be the last chance you get to tell them that."

Investigators say Kilgore's pets also died in the fire.

LEWIS COUNTY, Ky. (WSAZ) -- The name of the victim killed in a house fire has been released.

According to Dennis Brown, the Lewis County Coronor says Paula Sue Kilgore, 51, was killed in the fire.

Kentucky State Police tell WSAZ it happened in the Emerson community of Southern Lewis County Thursday.

Firefighters responded to Old Trace Hill Road near Carter County, where a home there was reported to be on fire.

Investigators say the house was destroyed in the fire.

The cause of the fire has not been determined, but investigators say the house was heated with propane. KSP say no foul play is suspected.

LEWIS COUNTY, Ky. (WSAZ) -- One person is dead after a house fire Thursday.

Kentucky State Police tell WSAZ It happened in the Emerson community of Southern Lewis County.

Firefighters responded to Old Trace Hill Road near Carter County, where a home there was reported to be on fire.

The cause of the fire has not been determined. KSP say no foul play is suspected.

The name of the person has not been released yet.