Head of IT Companies Monitoring Pentagon, FBI, NSA and Army Presumed Dead After Suspicious Fire

In the vein of all the suicided bankers, here’s another mysterious death connected to some pretty high places.

The 16,000 square-foot Annapolis mansion of millionaire IT executive Don Pyle, 55, went up in flames so fast on Monday, investigators believe a chemical agent must have been used. The house, dubbed “the castle” by neighbors, was fully engulfed by the time the fire department got there. It took 85 firefighters to finally put the blaze out. Pyle, his wife and four grandchildren are currently presumed dead.

Some 20 agents of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives have been called in to investigate and foul play is suspected. Lots of people are questioning not only since when does the ATF get involved in private house fires and missing persons cases, but so many ATF agents on one case. A bit much?

Maybe not considering who Pyle was. Not only was he the COO of ScienceLogic, a company which regularly conducts business with the military and intelligences communities and which monitored the online networks for both the Department of Defense and the FBI (among others), but he was also CEO at Netcordia, another IT company which has contracted with both the National Security Agency and U.S. Army to manage their online networks. He had just taken the position at ScienceLogic in October.

In short, the guy definitely sat in some very high places.

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