Police say the death of a woman found after an apartment fire over the weekend was a homicide.
Latiqua Nicole Cherry, 21, was found dead in a third-floor apartment in Oxon Hill, Maryland, early Sunday morning.
A medical examiner has determined that Cherry died from trauma to her body before the fire was set in her apartment.
Callers to 911 told dispatchers around 5 a.m. that there was smoke in the hallway of a building in the 600 block of Audrey Lane. Crews arrived to find a smoke alarm sounding in an apartment there, said Prince George's County Fire Department spokesman Mark Brady.
After entering the apartment, firefighters discovered and extinguished a small fire. Cherry's body was found near the point of the fire's origin.
Fire investigators determined the fire had been intentionally set, Prince George's County Police said Tuesday. Detectives don't believe the crime was a random act.
Fire damage was minimal and contained to the third-floor apartment.
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