EDISTO ISLAND — The speculation started as soon as the smoke cleared.

After a beach house belonging to South Carolina Judge Diane Goodstein burned to the ground Oct. 4 , politicos, pundits and some news outlets rushed to weigh in on the conflagration, which was captured on video and soon went viral. Drone footage showed the late-morning blaze engulfing the large house, which burned so quickly that the judge’s family members had to flee into the marsh to escape.

As firefighters and investigators with the State Law Enforcement Division extinguished the blaze and began looking for its cause , others jumped to conclusions about how the fire started — before any facts were established. For a moment, quiet and serene Edisto Island, a place where many South Carolinians look to get away from

See Full Page