Sarah Johnson

Burke County Crimestoppers is offering $2,000 for information leading to the arrest of the suspect or suspects in a fatal house fire deemed a double homicide.

Joseph Kincaid Byrd Jr., 76, and Michael Curtis Hallyburton, 63, were found dead at the scene of a house fire along Swink Street on Aug. 31, the Burke County Sheriff’s Office said in a news release.

Both Byrd and Hallyburton were shot, the sheriff’s office confirmed Friday.

Byrd was a former lawyer and the son of Joe K. Byrd, one of the founders of the Byrd, Byrd, McMahon and Denton law firm in Morganton.

The Burke County Sheriff’s Office continues to investigate the deaths with assistance from the N.C. State Bureau of Investigation, the U.S. Marshals Service, the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explo

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