Woman found dead in home; arson suspected

Stephen Curran

Monday, June 7, 2004 | 11:34 a.m.

A woman in her 30s was found dead this morning in what has been ruled an arson at a home near Buffalo Drive and Smoke Ranch Road, Las Vegas fire officials said.

Firefighters were called to a fire at the two-story home shortly before 7 a.m. Neighbors told them that a woman and a man lived with three children in the house, in the 7600 block of Shore Haven Drive, in the Desert Shores area, but the woman was apparently home alone when the fire started, firefighters said.

The fire began on or near the staircase, Las Vegas Fire and Rescue spokesman Tim Szymanski said.

The fire has been an arson, Metro Lt. Tom Monahan said. He would not say what prompted firefighters to make that judgment. He estimated damage at $50,000.

Firefighters used a ladder to get to the second floor and entered through a window. They found the woman dead in an upstairs bedroom.

It isn't clear if the woman, whose name has not yet been released, died as a result of the fire or if she was dead before it began, Szymanski said.

Metro Police homicide detectives were called to the house. They respond to fatal fires and treat them as crime scenes as a precaution.

The house was equipped with smoke detectors but investigators were trying to determine this morning if they were functioning.

Neighbor Mike Morris watched from his driveway as rescuers brought the woman out of the house.

Since 1989, Morris has lived three doors down from the house where the fire occurred, and he said the family moved in about a year and a half to two years ago and have three small children.