Overloaded extension cords or a hidden electrical short possibly ignited nearby combustibles on the front porch of a home in Butler where a couple died early Monday.

That's the prevailing theory on what investigators believe could have started the blaze that killed 57-year-old George Walter Jr. and wife, 69-year-old Linda Walter.

But a definitive cause will likely never be known due to the extensive fire damage to the more than 110-year-old house.

“It's listed as an undetermined origin,” Trooper Luke Nelson, a deputy state police fire marshal, said Tuesday after spending hours at the scene.

The “undetermined” listing will remain unless other, unexpected evidence emerges.

Nelson said that there is nothing to suggest the blaze was anything but accidental.

The Walters, who worked together for years at St. John Specialty Care in Mars, died of smoke inhalation according to Butler County Coroner William Young III. No autopsies were performed.

Young said investigators, including Butler police and fire officials, believe the cause of death was apparent from the findings at the scene.

“They were both found upstairs, there were no bullet wounds and nothing suspicious,” he said.

The Walters were also described as a loving husband and wife and solid citizens.

“They were called 'good people,” Nelson said, “and 'friendly people.' Nothing bad was said of either and they did not have any problems with anyone.”

The couple was likely sleeping in their second-story bedroom when the fire erupted. Firefighters would find Linda's body still in the bed.

George's body was found nearby in the upstairs hallway, suggesting he was trying to get out, authorities said.

But any escape route would have been impossible, investigators speculated, due to the couple's lifestyle as “extreme hoarders.”

Nelson called it the “worst case of hoarding” he's ever seen.

“Everywhere,” he said, “it was floor to ceiling in property. I don't even know how they got in and out of the house, to be honest.”

It would take firefighters hours to find the couple's remains, largely due to the clutter.

“The entire first floor was inaccessible,” Nelson said. “We had to use a ladder to get to the second floor.”

An excavator was eventually called in to handle the task of removing the remains.

“The fire load was terrific,” said Butler Fire Capt. McAfee, referring to the combustible materials in the home. “This should be a lesson to anyone who sees this. (Hoarding) makes it a very difficult situation (for firefighters).”

Nelson was home in Mercer County when he got the call from Butler firefighters, not long after the blaze was reported to the Butler County Communications Center at 1:48 a.m. Monday.

As the on-call fire marshal he was advised of the dire situation: likely entrapment.

Neighbors had alerted arriving fire crews that George and Linda were probably still inside. Their car was still parked out front.

And if the house was occupied, Nelson said, it was “not tenable for anyone to survive” such a devastating fire.

“We expected the worst,” he admitted.

He got there at 3:49 a.m. While most of the exterior fire had been knocked down, firefighters were still trying to get to the blaze in the roof.

The last of the flames were out by about 9 a.m.

But it would take even longer before the couple's remains were recovered.

Nelson immediately picked up the investigation. He zeroed in on a point of origin from eyewitness accounts and burn patterns.

“The first neighbors that discovered it and the first police there within minutes,” he recounted, “reported that the whole front porch was engulfed and through the roof on the exterior.”

A closer examination of the porch uncovered potential physical evidence, which suggested a possible electrical fire.

“There were remnants of multiple extension cords, which were intended for indoor use, that had been consumed down to unrecognizable globs,” Nelson said.

The cords were connected to multiple plug adapters in a two-socket outlet.

The possibly overheated or faulty power supply, investigators said, could have ignited numerous cardboard boxes and garbage bags on the porch.

Once the fire made its way into the house, the hoarding may have provided the fuel for the blaze.

“With all the contents inside,” Nelson said, “there was rapid fire spread.”

The badly damaged house was torn down Monday afternoon.

The Butler County Assessment Office listed the house as being built before 1905, but an exact date was not available.

George's father, the late George R. Walter Sr., bought the house in July 1986, records showed. He transferred it to his son in May 1997.