TACOMA — A house fire in south Tacoma led to the discovery of a body in a bag in a closet this morning, and a man was injured in the blaze, fire and police officials said.
The house was declared a homicide scene after investigators found evidence that the person in the bag had been killed, police Sgt. Thomas Williams said.
Police were awaiting the results of an autopsy after the Pierce County medical examiner was unable to determine the victim’s gender or time of death at the scene, Williams said.
Firefighters rescued one person from the burning two-story house and were trying to determine the cause of the fire when they found the body, Deputy Fire Chief Jolene Davis said. The injured man was taken to a hospital for treatment and his condition was not immediately known.
Neighbors told police a woman lived in the house with her son, about 9 or 10, and a boyfriend or husband, Williams said, adding that officers were trying to locate the residents.
The relationship between the residents and the person who was killed also was not immediately known, and detectives were checking to determine if violence had been reported at the house previously.
The fire apparently began inside the house, Davis said.
“We would consider this suspicious at this time,” she added. “We have a lot of questions and not a lot of answers.”
Flames were shooting through the roof when firefighters arrived shortly before 6 a.m.
A neighbor, Sherry Upchurch, said she was awakened by the fire trucks.
“The fire was just shooting up,” Upchurch said. “You could hear the crack of the windows.”
Damage was confined mainly to the upper floor, where a bedroom is located.
The former owner of the house, Judie Ross, said her sister owns the home now and had been renting it to a family for several months.
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