>> reporter: by the time he got there the victim's body had been taken outside. >> the body had suffered severe burns -- on the front of the body, more so than the back, which wasn't bad -- as badly burned. >> reporter: they would soon learn that the victim was the owner of the house, a 59-year-old man named rob cantor. his body had been found in a basement bedroom -- the same place where henry rodzen spotted the fire. lawler thought it strange that cantor had died so close to where the fire started. >> usually, you see healthy, middle-aged males and they're tryin' to get away from the fire. so, maybe they're overcome by smoke. >> reporter: lawler wanted to look around the basement where the body was found, but it was flooded. >> we had to wait and have the fire department pump some of the water out so we could enter the basement and conduct our investigate. >> reporter: that job would take several hours -- giving detectives from the bergen county major crimes unit, time to question neighbors. >> canvassing is the most time consuming thing, but you have to