TACOMA, Wash. -- Tacoma firefighters responding to a call of a fence fire early Monday found a burnt body in an alley.
The call came in around 4:45 a.m. about a fence fire in the 2600 block of S 76th Street. Fire Battalion Chief Dyer Fudge said responding firefirefighters found the charred body about 6-8 feet away from the fence.
"When our crews initially arrived at the scene, their initial thought was that this was death by fire," said Fudge. "However, experience tells us that many times crimes are covered up with fire. We don't know if that's the case here and if there's any crime involved."
Firefighters intially thought the body may have been a child, said Fudge, but firefighters later learned the victim was a 49-year-old Laotian woman who had been suicidal and depressed. The woman's family told firefighters they believe she committed suicide by setting herself on fire.
Tacoma police have taken over the investigation.
KING 5's Natalie Swaby contributed to this report.
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