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Woman's death inside burning Pinellas Park home deemed a suicide

 
Scene of a house fire at 7600 71st Ave. N, which police say is the scene of a homicide.
Scene of a house fire at 7600 71st Ave. N, which police say is the scene of a homicide.
Published July 26, 2014

PINELLAS PARK — The death of a woman found inside a burning Pinellas Park home this morning was determined to be a suicide, not a homicide as detectives initially thought.

The body of the 61-year-old woman, whose name was not released pending notification of next of kin, was found when firefighters responded to a blaze at a single-story home at 7600 71st Ave. N. Police were called to the scene shortly before 7 a.m. because the body had visible injuries, police said.

While the death was first thought to be a homicide, investigators found a gun underneath the body and determined the woman died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Investigators also found two suicide notes — one in her van, the other at a neighbor's home. The woman left the note along with her cat in a carrier on the neighbor's doorstep, police said.

Detectives suspect the woman, who was renting the house, set fire to the building before taking her own life.