2 Bodies Found in Closet at Site of Apartment Fire

The bodies of two people, who had been stuffed into the closet of a Mid-City apartment, were discovered early Tuesday after firefighters put out a blaze that was apparently set by two men attempting to cover up the killings, police said.

Police officers were called to the four-unit apartment building at 1072 S. Orange Grove Ave. when neighbors heard gunshots at 1 a.m. The officers found the second floor of the building engulfed in flames, which spread to a second building, and evacuated the residents, said Police Sgt. Wayne Horton.

The officers also discovered a badly burned woman in front of the building with a gunshot wound in her left arm, Horton said. A neighbor told police the woman’s hands were tied when she fled the burning building.

“It looks as if the motive of the crime was robbery because there was a trail of coins from the apartment down towards the walkway and the street,” Horton said. “It appears the fire was deliberately set to cover up the robbery and murder.”

The charred bodies of a man and a woman were later discovered inside a closet on the second floor of the burned-out apartment, Horton said. They were burned beyond recognition, and there were many unanswered questions as to how and why the two had been killed.

City Fire Department investigators discovered a plastic container near the apartment that may have contained a liquid used to ignite the fire, Horton said. Police Detective Frank Bishop said officers saw two men running from the area. The officers “attempted to catch the men, but they had to return to the building to warn the residents about the fire,” he said.

A resident of the Spanish Colonial apartment building said she and her boyfriend were awakened in the early morning hours by the sounds of an argument coming from the apartment where the fire started.

“I heard a woman scream and what I thought were gunshots,” said the woman, who did not wish to be identified. “Then we heard the oddest noise. It sounded like everything was rumbling. We couldn’t figure out what was going on,” she said. “By the time we left, everything was in flames.”

The woman who survived the shooting was being treated at Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center, where she was listed in extremely critical condition with second- and third-degree burns to 65% of her body. Hospital spokesman Adelaida De La Cerda said the 32-year-old woman had been sexually assaulted.

Neighbors said the couple who lived in the apartment--a man in his 60s and a woman in her 40s--had frequent visitors and often engaged in violent arguments that ended only when police were called.

“We never knew what was going on, but there was always a lot of traffic going in and out late at night,” said a man who lived in the building who asked not to be named.

Horton said it was not immediately clear if the victims were the residents of the apartment or visitors.

The fire spread to a second apartment building, destroying the roof and damaging most of the second floor, said Los Angeles city Fire Department spokesman Jim Wells. A total of eight units in the two buildings were damaged.

Damage to the two buildings was estimated at $790,000, Wells said. About 45 firefighters extinguished the flames within an hour.

Residents who watched fire crews and police detectives work at the burned-out buildings Tuesday morning said crime has become common in the neighborhood of attractive older apartment buildings.

“It used to be a lovely neighborhood,” said George Benson, who lives across the street from the site of the fire. “But last week we had three muggings on this street. I don’t know about everybody else, but right now I’m scared to death.”