Burned Body Ruled Murder by OMI, APD Seeks Leads

Albuquerque –

For nearly 13 hours, a dead man was left charred behind the Smith’s located at 6125 4th St. NW after Bernalillo County Fire Department responded to a small fire at the location.

The Office of Medical Investigator ruled the death as a homicide and the Albuquerque Police Department is looking for leads into the murder.

The Bernalillo County Fire Department responded to a small fire Saturday night at the same location, behind a home furnishings store. Firefighters extinguished the fire around 9:29 p.m., but they did not observe a body.

We reached out to Bernalillo County Fire on the fire with questions on the response to the fire and the aftermath:

1) Who called in the fire?

2) How did the fire department miss a patient? 

3) Will there be an internal investigation on this call?

“This is an active homicide investigation under the jurisdiction of Albuquerque Police Department. We have no comment and will defer all questions to APD,” said William “Bryant” Harris Engineer / EMT-I Bernalillo County Fire and Rescue Public Information Office

According to APD, the body was discovered 13 hours later by employees of the nearby businesses. Homicide detectives were called to the scene because evidence suggested the death was intentional.

We will update this story if there are any case updates.