Man found dead in burned bedroom

A Laurens County man was found dead Saturday night in a burned bedroom by first responders who arrived at the residence expecting to treat a heart attack.

“It’s an active investigation,” said Laurens County Rural Fire Chief Josh McCard. “There was a fire at that location. We were dispatched to a cardiac arrest. When the sheriff’s office and EMS got there, they found the deceased. He was in the room that had burned.”

The man, Noah Elbert Diers, 57, was pronounced dead at the scene, 610 River Ridge Road, at 10:02 p.m., Laurens County Coroner Richard Stanley said. Diers’ body has been sent to the state crime lab for an autopsy, Stanley said.

Emergency personnel were dispatched to the address at 9:08 p.m. “to the report of a cardiac arrest,” McCard said. “Upon public safety getting on the scene it was discovered there had been a fire.”

McCard said the State Fire Marshal was called in to assist with the investigation.