Woman slain before house set ablaze, LR police report

A Little Rock woman died before a fire was set at her east Little Rock home last week and her death has been ruled a homicide, a police spokesman said Tuesday.

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Little Rock firefighters found Gloria Summage, 50, dead on the kitchen floor of her home at 1909 E. Eighth St. after it caught fire about 11:50 p.m. on June 19, spokesman Sgt. Cassandra Davis said.

Summage had injuries to her upper torso, but Davis said she did not know what caused her death and would not disclose what type of injuries Summage sustained.

When firefighters arrived at the scene, the home was fully consumed, but heavy smoke near the attic kept them from battling the blaze indoors, fire officials have said. They snuffed out the blazes from the outside and went back in the home, where they found Summage, fire officials said.

Little Rock police detectives spotted injuries to Summage’s body, which was taken to the state Crime Laboratory for an autopsy, Davis said. The death was ruled a homicide, marking the city’s 16th this year.

Police have neither identified a suspect nor a motive for the fire, Davis said.

The blaze was an act of arson, fire Capt. Edwin Woolf said, but he wouldn’t disclose how the fire was set or where it began.

Arkansas, Pages 10 on 06/26/2013

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