Fire rips through site of suspected June murder

ARLINGTON, Wash. -- A house that was the site of at least one possible murder burned to the ground early Wednesday morning in Arlington.

Dispatchers received calls around 2 a.m. of a fire in a home in the 13200 block of 240th Street. Crews on the scene put out the blaze in an hour, but the house was a total loss after fire caused the roof to collapse, fire officials said. The house was unoccupied at the time of the blaze and no one was injured.

The home was the site of two deaths in June, including one that police believe was a murder.  Police were called to the home in June after a woman was reported missing. David Thorsen, 50, was arrested at the home after his 53-year-old sister's body was found in a field short distance away from the house. The body was discovered a day after Thorsen's mother was found deceased at the bottom of the basement stairs of the home. Police were in the process of investigating Thorsen's mother's death, and believed it too could have been a homicide.

Thorsen was booked into Snohomish County Jail in June for investigation of second-degree murder. He plead not guilty to the crime, but is being held in lieu of $1 million bail.

Fire officials are investigating the cause of the blaze. It is unknown how the fire will affect the murder investigation.