By Joseph Garcia
Rocky Mountain News (Denver)
Copyright 2006 Denver Publishing Company
Aurora police are conducting a murder investigation after firefighters discovered a body on the floor of a burned apartment Monday.
The person’s identity is unknown, but police suspect the body may be that of a young Aurora woman.
The resident of the burned apartment, 19-year-old Monet Turner, was reported missing Sunday night.
But the body found in her unit at the Oak Ridge Apartments, 832 S. Chambers Road, hasn’t been identified, police spokesman Sgt. Rudy Herrera said Tuesday.
The Arapahoe County Coroner’s Office will conduct an autopsy to try to determine the cause of death, Herrera said.
The fire broke out about 5:45 p.m. When firefighters arrived, witnesses told them that someone was trapped in the building, said Capt. Michael Ackman, spokesman for the Aurora Fire Department.
The blaze, which spread up the side of the three-story building, was extinguished shortly after 6 p.m.
Once it was out, firefighters searched the apartment and found a body under a pile of debris in a bedroom on the first floor, where the fire is believed to have started, Ackman said.
“Based on physical evidence observed in the apartment during the investigation, police now have reason to believe that foul play was involved and are treating this as a murder,” police said in a statement.
Also injured in the fire was a bystander, who tried to run into the burning structure and was taken to a hospital for smoke inhalation.
Tony Nguyen, 35, who lives on the third floor, said he heard loud knocking on his door that evening. It was his neighbors, telling him that their building was on fire. He raced down the stairs to get out of harm’s way.
“When I got down, I saw the flames,” Nguyen said. “I said, ‘Oh my gosh, is this for real?’ ”
Nguyen said he’s talked to Turner a few times and believes she’s a student at Aurora Community College.
“I haven’t seen her. I don’t think she was home (during the fire),” Nguyen said, unaware that at the time, authorities were investigating a homicide in her unit.
Police declined to provide a copy of the missing-persons report that was filed by a family member. Herrera said it’s been made private by detectives working the case.
Throughout the day Tuesday, Aurora detectives and investigators with the Colorado Bureau of Investigations examined the crime scene.