NewsOn6.com - Tulsa, OK - News, Weather, Video and Sports - KOTV.com | Police Investigate After Woman Dies in Fire at Abandoned Del City Apartments
Right now the property is in foreclosure and the area has been rezoned for commercial use. So once the apartments are torn down it will never be a residential area again.
Authorities are waiting for the medical examiner to identify the victim and determine how she died.By Charles Bassett, NEWS 9
DEL CITY, Oklahoma -- Del City police are investigating the death of a woman found dead inside a burning apartment building.
Now authorities are trying to figure out how she died.
The woman's body was found at what used to be the Eagle Point Apartments; they are condemned. Authorities want to know what the woman was doing at the apartments when she died as well. The call came in early Saturday morning that a building was on fire at the abandoned Eagle Point Apartments.
"When crews arrived on scene we had five units of a 16 unit building fully involved," said Del City Fire Department Maj. Brandon Pursell. "Knowing that it was a condemned building they were not able to make entry. They fought it from the outside."
After about four hours crews had the fire under control and were able to go inside the building where they found the body of a woman.
"Right now we don't know if it's a homicide or simply accidental due to trying to stay warm in the cooler weather," said Del City Police Department Capt. Jody Suit. "We are working it as a homicide until we determine differently."
It's still too early to tell how the fire started, but investigators are combing through the rubble looking for answers.
"It's very tedious," said Pursell. "The second floor collapsed down on the first floor so they have quite a bit of debris to dig through to try to locate any evidence."
The apartments have been a problem for the city for some time. They were condemned last December and the few occupants who lived there were evicted and the property boarded up.
But that hasn't stopped people from coming onto the property and in some cases, breaking into the buildings.
"Our officers have been doing a good job of trying to keep people out who should not be here," said Pursell. "We just want to remind people that this is an unsanitary, unhealthy environment. We don't want anybody to be in here."
