Former Tenant Will Be Freed in Arson Blaze That Killed 4

A Long Beach woman will be freed because prosecutors have found insufficient evidence to charge her with arson or murder in an apartment house fire that killed four people last week.

Brenda Denise Cooper, 26, described by authorities as an angry ex-tenant of the gutted Long Beach apartment complex, will probably be released from jail today after she pays some outstanding traffic tickets, Long Beach police said Tuesday.

She remains a suspect in the case, Los Angeles County district attorney’s spokesman Al Albergate said.

“We just need to do a lot more work on it, that’s all,” said Long Beach Police Detective Tim Cable, adding that Cooper is the only suspect.

Both Albergate and Long Beach police declined further explanation.

Cooper could not be reached for comment Tuesday. She was arrested last Thursday, less than 24 hours after fire raced through the halls and staircases of the low-rent apartment building, killing a young mother, two of her children and a 25-year-old man.

Tips led investigators to Cooper, who was evicted from her apartment last month after angry arguments with her landlord, police said.

Building owner Peter Dutta said Cooper was evicted after being warned that noise from music and late-night visitors was excessive. She had lived in the apartment with her 5-year-old son for about three months, and some of her possessions were in the dwelling at the time of the fire, Dutta said.

The fire was set in at least three places in the hallways and stairwells on both floors of the long, narrow apartment house, police said.

Residents of all but two of the 16 units escaped through windows. But Domitila Castellanos, 28, and two of her three children, Erika Estevez, 3, and Esmeralda Estevez, 8, died as they tried to flee down a stairwell, police said.

The third Estevez child, Saul, 6, remains in critical condition at County-USC Medical Center with burns over 57% of his body, a hospital spokesman said.

Also killed was Raul Navarro, a convenience store maintenance man who fled into a hallway when he and his family had trouble removing iron bars from their windows.