Little Rock AR June 14 2013 Donna Creer, a beloved influencer in the Gospel Music Industry, radio announcer and the Second Vice Chair of the Gospel Music Workshop of America died in a house fire along with her husband Wednesday morning.At 3:11 a.m. as a fire crew responded to the blaze, Creer, 57 and her spouse Donald, 50 were found in bed at their Little Rock, AK home.
Little Rock Police suspect the blaze was set by an arsonist. Sgt. Cassandra Davis said, “We believe the death is suspicious because there were no obvious signs of trauma to the body.”
The Creers were taken by ambulance to two separate hospitals and were both pronounced dead on arrival.
While an autopsy will be performed to determine the cause of death, Davis offered, “We feel they were victims of smoke inhalation.”
The cause of the fire is under investigation by the Fire Marshall’s Office. Firefighters noticed a sliding glass door at the back of the house was unlocked, but have no real clues regarding a motive or a suspect as of press time.
LRPD have also assigned a detective to the case, who will be present at the autopsy to make sure they did not overlook any physical evidence.
Adding to this tragic news is the fact that Creer was released from the hospital yesterday after spending a week in ICU according to her friend Tammy Taylor. Last week a call for prayer went out over the Internet as it was discovered doctors had misdiagnosed a mass that was stage 4 cancer, which advanced to her lungs Taylor said. Creer was ready to begin treatments then tragedy struck.
She was formerly the President of the Magnet Schools of America, on the Board of the National Delta Sigma Theta, Executive Vice-President of the Gospel Announcers Guild of GMWA, The Coordinator for the Quartet Division of GMWA, Former President of Arkansas Gospel Announcers Guild, Committee Member and Script Writer for the Stellar Awards Radio Awards among many other roles in the Christian media. Donna had also written for Urban Network and Gospel EUR. Mrs. Creer was also a veteran educator and served as the Director of the Arkansas Magnet Schools of America.
A member of the broadcasters Hall of Fame and President of the Arkansas Gospel Announcers Guild, Donna Creer was broadcast on on 94.9, Hallelujah FM in Little Rock in the 7 p.m. to midnight time slot.