Yes, according to reports, they chased him & saw him enter the cabin alone and spoke with the owner of the cabin on the phone.We have no idea if there were other footprints in the snow besides Dorner & the police officers who chased him. We have no idea what means they used to discern if anyone else was in there.
You seem to assume that they had no idea who was in the cabin and they intentionally burned it to the ground.
I don’t assume either one, and don’t believe the initial reports that came from the media - so many of them were false.
I’m glad he’s dead, & I don’t care how he died.
“We have no idea what means they used to discern if anyone else was in there.”
Discerning isn’t the same thing as knowing. They may have guessed, surmised, or discerned that there was nobody else in the cabin, but they didn’t know until they pulled only one body out of the rubble.
"You're a vicious bastard, Dorner....and uhhh.....I'm glad your dead."