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Tarentum Man Hit With Tragedy Could Lose Home

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May 22, 2009 10:48 pm US/Eastern

Tarentum Man Hit With Tragedy Could Lose Home

TARENTUM (KDKA) ― You might consider a man from Tarentum the modern equivalent of Job from the Bible.

Calhoun Doyle's wife died, then his house burned down killing his granddaughter and destroying his wife's cremated remains.

Now the bank wants to foreclose on what's left – a pile of rubble.

"You lay down, you want to go to sleep and then you fantasize this happening all over again," Doyle said.

Fire ripped through the wood frame house on a 15 degree January night. Brandy Horton, 17, managed to call 911 just before she died.

The tragedy even brought veteran firefighters to tears.

Since then, things have gotten even worse. Calhoun got behind on his payments on the property and the bank took foreclosure action.

Late fees and legal fees piled up adding nearly $30,000 to the actual payoff of the house.

He's now days away from losing his property forever.

Calhoun's lawyer Larry Willis says it's like a lot of others except Calhoun is willing to use insurance money from the fire to pay off the loan and turn his former home into a memorial to his wife.

Calhoun wants the banks to work with him and cut some of the fees which his lawyer calls predatory.

The lawyer also calls the loan predatory because Calhoun brings in $800 a month and has a $450 mortgage.

If this can't be worked out, his lawyer says Calhoun may have to accept the foreclosure and walk away.

"His wife's ashes are still up there. More than likely that property would be sold off to someone at a sheriff's sale and a new building would be built on it and they'll probably never know the back story to what happened there," Willis said.

Calhoun spends a lot of time at the site of his property along Corbett Street. He says he has to be there because it's where his family is.

Griffin: "Would you consider this to be a blessed area?"

Calhoun: "Yes, yes I do."

Griffin: "And you want to maintain that?"

Calhoun: "Yes I do."

Griffin: "Would you consider it to be sacred ground?"

Calhoun: "I would think so - yes sir."

Griffin: "And the bank wants you – they want to take this away from you?"

Calhoun: "They want everything. They lied, cheated and thieved from the very beginning."

There is hope for Calhoun.

KDKA's Marty Griffin contacted the vice president at Ocwen Loan Servicing out of Florida and he was touched by the story.

He told Griffin he will do anything in his power to resolve the problem. He's trying to determine if they can eliminate all fees and allow Calhoun to just pay off the loan on the home.

(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)

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