A fire at a Dalton home on South Grimes Street became a homicide and arson investigation after firefighters found a woman dead inside. Police say a vehicle tied to the home was later chased in Kentucky and crashed, killing the driver.
What’s Happening: The Dalton Fire Department was called to a fire on South Grimes Street around 5:47 a.m. Saturday. While firefighters searched the home, they found a woman’s badly burned body, authorities said, and they called in the Dalton Police Department, the Whitfield County Coroner’s Office, and the state fire marshal’s office because the death appeared suspicious.
What’s Important: The woman’s name has not been released. Police said her identification will have to wait for an examination by the medical examiner’s office, and investigators said they are holding her identity until confirmation is complete and her next of kin are notified.
The Timeline: Police said that as officers worked at the scene, a woman called and told them her brother had confessed to killing his girlfriend at the Grimes Street home and asked police to check on the resident. Police said they had already identified a man who lives in Indiana as a person of interest.
Police said investigators also found that the victim’s vehicle was missing from the home, and the car and its license plate were entered into a national database as stolen.
Around 9:30 a.m., Dalton investigators learned the Kentucky State Patrol had spotted the vehicle south of Lexington and was chasing it, police said. Authorities said the chase ended when the car crashed and the driver was killed.
Police said the driver has not been positively identified and the name is being withheld until confirmation and notification of next of kin. Police also said their crime scene unit had to wait for toxic fumes inside the burned home to clear before entering, and the case remains under investigation.
