DALLAS _ A woman has been arrested after authorities say she set a fire at a Fort Worth home that killed a 73-year-old man.
Latisha Renee Davis, 22, was booked into the Tarrant County jail Wednesday night on one count of murder, and authorities expect to add a charge of arson of a habitation.
Firefighters were called to home in southeastern Fort Worth, about 5:10 a.m. Sunday and discovered heavy fire coming from the 2,000-square-foot house.
Crews pulled Sammie Lee Brown from the home within minutes, but he died about an hour later at John Peter Smith Hospital.
Six other adults in the home escaped after one of them smelled smoke and was able to wake the others, officials said.
Two dozen firefighters took about half an hour to contain the blaze, a process made more difficult by modifications to the house, the fire department said.
Brad Sims, an arson investigator for the department, said at a news conference Thursday morning that about 12 people were renting rooms at the house.
Sims said the fire originated in Davis' room, which she shared with her boyfriend, and that Brown was several rooms away.
"There was a history of reported domestic violence between that couple," he said, and they had been asked to leave the home because of repeated disturbances.
Davis returned later and set the fire, said Sims, who did not want to get into details about how exactly the blaze was started.
Fire Chief Jim Davis lauded his crews' "heroic effort" to try to save Brown's life and offered his condolences to the man's family.
He also had a message for potential arsonists: "If you use fire in this city as a threat, as intimidation or as a weapon, we will find you and we will prosecute you."
Latisha Davis remained in custody Thursday, with bail set at $150,000, and she did not have an attorney listed in court records. She has no apparent previous criminal history.
.png?w=600)
