In the early morning hours of April 30th, 2008, authorities in Kitsap County, Washington

were contacted by residents in Port Orchard.

There, along the 1100 block of Sydney Avenue, a fire had broken out, and just before 4

o'clock in the morning that Wednesday, the flames had become evident to sleeping neighbors

nearby.

The home belonged to a 47-year-old woman that was well liked by her neighbors, who had

been working for various law offices over the past decade.

Firefighters would show up a short time after the 911 call was made, and would sadly discover

the body of the home's resident inside.

She originally appeared to have been a victim of the fire, but her death was later labeled

as suspicious by investigators.

A lengthy examination of the crime scene would continue throughout the day, with members

of the Port Orchard Police Department joined by numerous fire officials, and were assisted

by the Washington State Patrol Crime Lab and the Seattle Fire Department.

The former assisted with analyzing the crime scene, and the latter brought out dogs capable

of sniffing out fire accelerants.

Speaking to reporters with the Kitsap Sun, the local newspaper that covered the story

early on, a neighbor that lived two doors down, named Don Rio, said that he was awakened

by popping sounds that he likened to small, caliper handgun sounds.

Despite theorizing that these were gunshots, authorities would state that these noises

were likely the windows of the woman's home being blown out by the heat.

Regardless, when Rio and other neighbors looked out, they were surprised to see flames

...