Police: Woman, Toddler Killed In South LA Fire Died Under 'Suspicious Circumstances'
LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) — Authorities are continuing to investigate the circumstances surrounding the deaths of a woman and her 2-year-old son, whose bodies were recovered from a detached South Los Angeles garage this week.
Police Friday confirmed to CBS2 that the pair died under suspicious circumstances, but would not elaborate further.
Firefighters say a 911 caller reported the smell of smoke in the vicinity Wednesday shortly after 10 a.m.
When firefighters arrived, they couldn't see any smoke and decided the smoke must be coming from a trailer used to heat tar.
About an hour-and-a-half later, at 11:45 a.m., a second call gave a specific address and firefighters arrived to find moderate smoke coming from a converted garage in the 100 block of East 50th Street.
Firefighters pulled the toddler from the garage and transported him to an area hospital where he died. The fire was extinguished within nine minutes, at which point the mother's body was pulled.
The cause of the fire is still under investigation but authorities did say they saw no evidence of smoke detectors inside the garage.
No further information was available.
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