A man whose body was found in a burned home Tuesday is believed to have been shot to death, a source said Wednesday afternoon.

A source which did not wish to be identified said it is believed that man had been shot three times in the chest, and investigators are now considering the burned home a homicide scene.

Sheriff Ron Lockhart and other investigators, the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation and the State Fire Marshal's office, were at the fire scene Wednesday afternoon looking for clues in the death of Shannon Bryan Southern, 20. Southern’s body was found in the burned-out home he was living in Tuesday morning. The house is one mile south of Muldrow Cemetery on Lee Chapel Road.

Family members said Southern often slept on the couch, and firefighters reported finding Southern’s body on the floor next to the couch after they had extinguished the blaze enough to search what remained of the house.

Southern lived in his grandfather’s old home for three months before the fire took his life, according to his step-grandmother Susie Lewis.

“We were informed someone might be in the house,” Muldrow Fire Chief Allen Faulkner said.

A 911 call was placed at 6:05 a.m. to the Muldrow Police Department, which dispatched Muldrow, Liberty and Roland Fire Departments to the burning home one mile south of Muldrow Cemetery on Lee Chapel Road.

“His (Southern’s) mother was raised in this house,” Lewis said. “When Southern moved in he and his grandfather remodeled the inside of the house.”

Lewis said Southern and his grandfather Kenneth Lewis were very close.

“He called him son because he never had one. He had three daughters,” Susie Lewis said.

“Southern was very close to his family,” she continued. “He was his (grandfather’s) pride and joy.”

Southern’s body was found in the center of the home. Family members said he sometimes slept on the couch, which was located in the center of the home.

“He was such a friendly and cordial person. He had a lot of friends,” Susie Lewis said.

She said, “He has a little brother and a lot of close family members. It is so hard to deal with. Especially for his mother and Kenneth,” Susie said. “Kenneth and Shannon were so close.”

Faulkner said he was the first on the scene. He said when he arrived the metal roof was already sitting on the ground.

Faulkner said he couldn’t determine what time the fire started but the house had been burning for a while. He said 30 to 35 firefighters worked several hours to extinguish the blaze, which was still smoldering around 11 a.m.

The State Fire Marshal is investigating the cause of the fire. A spokesperson from the fire marshal’s office said Investigating Agent Mike Tubbs arrived on the scene shortly after the fire was reported. She said Tubbs was still investigating the cause of the fire at 2 p.m. Tuesday and was still unable to determine the cause at that time.

Faulkner said Southern’s body was taken by Agent Funeral Home to the medical examiners office in Tulsa, which most likely reported on the cause of death to the county sheriff Wednesday afternoon, after Your TIMES press time.

“There is not much left of the home to work with. It makes it hard to determine what happened,” Faulkner said.

Funeral services for Southern are pending at Agent Funeral Home in Sallisaw. His complete obituary will appear in the next issue of Your TIMES or can be viewed at the Web site, www.agentfuneralhome.com.