Tex Allen offers hugs to mourners Monday during a vigil in memory of the three dozen victims of a warehouse fire in Oakland, Calif. The search for those killed in the blaze appeared to be coming to a close.

OAKLAND, Calif. — Some people managed to text loved ones goodbye and “I love you” before they died in an Oakland warehouse fire that claimed three dozen lives, officials said, as heart-rending reports of victims’ last moments emerged from the most lethal building fire in the U.S. in more than a decade.

Also Monday, the painful and exhaustive search for those killed in the fire appeared to be coming to a close. Alameda County Sheriff Gregory Ahern told The Associated Press that he didn’t believe there would be additional bodies found.

But he cautioned that it was “impossible to be absolutely positive” about the number killed until the entire recovery effort is complete. Authorities had gone through about three-quarters of the building by Monday afternoon.

Officials said they would turn next to investigating the fire, which erupted late Friday during a dance party. It’s unclear how it started. The district attorney warned of possible murder charges as she determines whether there were any crimes linked to the blaze.

“We owe it to the community and those who perished in this fire, and those who survived the fire to be methodical, to be thorough, and to take the amount of time it takes to be able to look at every piece of potential evidence,” Alameda County District Attorney Nancy O’Malley said.

Alameda County sheriff’s spokesman Sgt. Ray Kelly said that some of the victims texted relatives, “I’m going to die,” and “I love you.”

Rescue crews found bodies of people “protecting each other, holding each other,” Kelly said.

Monday night, hundreds of people holding candles and flowers honored those who died in the fire at a vigil at Oakland’s Lake Merritt.

Those in the crowd embraced each other or held up candles as they said aloud the names of people they lost in the blaze.

Several people in the crowd held signs offering “free hugs.”

Terry Ewing learned Monday what he already knew in his heart: His girlfriend, Ara Jo, was among the dead in the fire that broke out during an underground dance party at a building known as the “Ghost Ship.”

Earlier, Ewing said Jo’s friends and family had already started talking about the vibrant 29-year-old Oakland artist in the past tense, but needed confirmation. He went through photographs as he waited. Friends remembered her as someone who could fit in anywhere, he said.