RCMP said the body of a 51-year-old woman was found inside a home burned in a fire in Selkirk Monday night.
Sandra Hohne said her sister Gloria Sanderson is the woman who died, along with her pet dog.
No one else was home at the time of the fire.
Sanderson was the youngest of nine siblings and will be greatly missed, said Hohne.
“We’re trying to stick together and we’ve got to help each other out,” said Hohne.
RCMP and fire crews responded to the fire around 10:30 p.m. on Dec. 10 on Taylor Avenue in Selkirk.
Officers said a routine autopsy is being done to determine the cause of the woman’s death.
“If the cause of death was the fire, then that’s what we conclude the file to - but if it’s other ways, we have to do further investigation,” said Const. Paul Human from Selkirk RCMP.
Neighbours said they often saw Sanderson’s two grandkids visiting the home and were relieved they weren’t at the house during the fire.
Neighbours remember Sanderson as a friendly woman who loved to laugh.
“When I would talk to her, see her, she was super nice, super funny,” said Taylor Valentine, a neighbour.
Hohne said Sanderson and her husband had lived in the home for nearly 20 years.
She said her sister had worked at a seniors’ home but was on disability for a shoulder injury and had recently been battling depression.
Hohne said, however, she will remember Sanderson as her happy-go-lucky little sister.
“In her younger days, she was a very hard worker and very pleasant to be around,” said Hohne.
She said firefighters told her the blaze appeared to have started from a grease fire in the kitchen.
Hohne said the bodies of her sister and her sister’s dog were found near the back door.
