South Carolina’s top law official says no arson evidence so far in fire that destroyed judge’s home

In this aerial view image taken from video from WCBD, smoke rises from a house fire on Edisto Island, S.C., on Oct. 4, 2025. (WCBD via AP)

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — State agents have so far found no evidence that a fire that destroyed a judge’s home on a South Carolina island was intentionally set, the state’s top law enforcement official said Monday.

The Saturday blaze nearly burned to the ground the house listed in property records as owned by Circuit Judge Diane Goodstein on a remote part of Edisto Island, authorities said.

The investigation is still active and ongoing and agents will issue a report when they are finished and determine the cause, State Law Enforcement Division Chief Mark Keel said in a statement.

“At this time, there is no evidence to indicate the fire was intentionally set. SLED agents have preliminarily found there is no evidence to support a pre-fire explosion,” Keel said,

Keel and his agents released no other details.

Three people were hurt in the blaze and one of them was taken by helicopter to the Medical University of South Carolina, according to Colleton County Fire-Rescue. The names of the people hurt were not released.

The house’s first floor is elevated from the ground and the injured had to jump to the ground. Several then had to be rescued by kayaks from the swampy back yard, the St. Paul’s Fire District said in a statement on social media.

Video from the fire department showed the home fully engulfed in flames. Drone photos taken over the scene later showed only a few charred wooden supports standing amid the blackened rubble.

Goodstein has been a state judge for 27 years, handling thousands of cases. Speculation immediately settled on one of her most recent decisions where Goodstein blocked the Election Commission in South Carolina from releasing voter data requested by the U.S. Department of Justice.

Her restraining order was lifted about a week later by the state Supreme Court who said Goodstein failed to detail if the voter who sued would suffer irreparable harm or proved she was likely to win the suit on the merits.

Keel’s agency almost never releases statements while investigations are ongoing beyond the basic facts. But the last sentence of his statement on Monday indicated why he made an exception.

“I urge our citizens, elected officials, and members of the press to exercise good judgement and not share information that has not been verified,” wrote Keel, who has led the state police since 2011 and has been in law enforcement for 46 years.

The General Assembly elects judges in South Carolina and when Goodstein last ran for her seat in 2022, the Judicial Merit Screening Commission noted her sterling reputation and temperament and called her as asset to the state.

Nearly two decades ago, Goodstein presided over a civil lawsuit that led to a $12 million settlement between victims of sexual abuse and the Roman Catholic Diocese of Charleston.

She also presided in 2014 over a property dispute trial between the national Episcopal Church and the breakaway Diocese of South Carolina which spilt over theological differences, including the authority of Scripture and the ordination of gays.