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Investigators Seek Help In Suspicious Cottonwood Fire Death

Eugene Zemlyanskiy
/
Flickr Creative Commons

 

Authorities are asking local residents for help after a woman was killed in one of two suspicious fires earlier this week. 

 

 

Shasta County investigators are asking the public for any surveillance footage of suspicious persons or activity in Cottonwood since June, after a rash of suspicious fires turned deadly early Sunday. 

 

 

According to the Shasta County Sheriff’s office, Cottonwood firefighters recovered the body of an elderly woman shortly before 5 a.m. after responding to a house fire on the 3300 block of Willow Street. 

 

 

Shortly after 5, a second residential fire was reported five blocks away on the 3400 block of Hickory Street. That fire was quickly extinguished. Both fires are being considered suspicious. 

 

 

 

Authorities are investigating the death as a homicide. Authorities were not releasing the name of the victim, pending an autopsy. 

 

 

 

The sheriff’s office said a series of suspicious fires have struck downtown Cottonwood in recent months. Authorities urge residents to use exterior lighting, surveillance cameras and report any suspicious activity.