NIAGARA FALLS, N.Y. (AP) -- Homicide investigators are trying to determine whether a house fire and reports of shots fired are related to the discovery of a body behind a nearby home over the weekend.
The fire at 3:30 a.m., Sunday destroyed a house and all its contents. A mother and her four children were unharmed, but the woman told investigators she spent the night in a motel after receiving threats. Fire officials are looking into the possibility of arson.
Neighbors reported hearing gunshots on the same block around the time the fire started.
The night before the fire, a body was found wrapped in a plastic sheet and a blanket behind a house near the one that burned. Police said a neighbor found the body, which was too decomposed to identify. Police said the body appeared to have been dumped a day or two before it was found.
Police are trying to determine whether the body is that of a local girl who has been missing for weeks and had ties to the home that burned.
Information from: The Buffalo News
