Woman's body found inside burned Fort Collins home; man arrested
Fort Collins Police Services is investigating whether or not a man who was walking near a home that went up in flames on Tuesday morning was involved with the fire and associated death.
Tuesday morning, just after four, police and Poudre Fire Authority responded to a house fire in the Churchill neighborhood in the southwest corner of the city.
A woman's body was found in the house.
"It was just hectic," said Mal Haltam, a neighbor. "The main heat of the fire was around 4am. It was pretty jarring for sure."
"Due to the intensity of the fire and the potential instability of the structure, firefighters had to fight that fire from outside of the residence," said Brandon Barnes, officer and spokesperson for FCPS.
FCPS, Poudre Fire, the ATF and Larimer County Sheriff's Office all came together to investigate different aspects of the fire. Different investigative dogs were brought in, one of which located the body of the deceased woman.
The coroner has not yet released the cause of death or the woman's identity.
However, police said they noticed an individual that was walking in the area shortly after the fire and they made contact with him.
"Officers were providing scene security for the residence and noticed an adult male who was nearby. They contacted him and noticed he had a warrant and a protection order prohibiting him from being near that residence," Barnes said.
The man was arrested on his warrant, as well as for violating his protection order. While police said he was prohibited from being that close to the home that was burned in the fire, they would not say whether or not they had any evidence that linked him to the fire or death themselves.
The man has not been charged with any crimes associated with the fire or death as of the posting of this article.
"Just the whole situation shook the neighborhood completely," Haltam said.
Neighbors like Haltam said they were sad for the victim and their loved ones, and at the same time they were hoping that this was not a targeted incident.
"The thought of someone being that evil at its core is very scary," Haltam said. "We are all merely fragile bodies, so call your loved ones."