Police investigating homicide after Frayser fire
One man was found dead inside a burned home in Frayser on Sunday morning.
The man was found in the 900 block of Dawn Drive after the fire was extinguished around 10 a.m.
Police were on the scene until 4 p.m. Sunday. Several neighbors were questioned multiple times.
Sunday afternoon a few people hugged outside the house as about 10 others walked through the house and gathered in the back yard.
Gene Street lives two houses down from house where the fire occurred. He said the victim lived in the house with his nephew.
He described the neighborhood as “quiet” and said he has had few problems. He was home Sunday when police arrived on the scene.
“I heard a crash and I heard a few pops, but nothing to really jar your attention,” Street said. “I left to go to the store and came back within 5 to 10 minutes and the house was on fire.”
Street said he did not see flames, but saw smoke coming out.
“it looked like a slow burning fire,” he said.
Street said the victim was working on a car outside most of the day Saturday. He hoped the resident was not affected by the fire, but when the nephew arrived home, he knew the neighbor had died.
“The nephew pulled up and started jumping up and down,” Street said. “The police actually had to grab on to him ‘cause he was so emotional and then you could tell by the way he acted it wasn’t just that the house was on fire. You could tell it was more devastating than that.”
Street said he and neighbors one street over were questioned by police officers, crime scene officers and homicide investigators. He said the line of questions made him “uneasy.”
He saw bags of evidence carried from the scene.
Memphis Police Department has not released the name of the victim and said this is an ongoing homicide investigation.
Anyone with information is encouraged to call CrimeStoppers at 901-5282274
Reach Abigail Warren by email at Abigail.Warren@commercialappeal.com or follow her on Twitter @aewarren3.