Police investigate death in house fire as homicide
Lakewood police are investigating a Tuesday night fatal fire as a homicide.
LAKEWOOD – Police Thursday identified the victim of a fatal house fire as Bonnie Gilbert Bergin and her death is being investigated as a homicide.
The body of Bergen, 49, found was late Tuesday beneath the debris of a collapsed roof about 35 minutes after firefighters extinguished a fast-moving fire at the house rented by the victim at 11906 W. 20th Ave. Firefighters already had made one sweep through the house and were sifting through the smoldering debris when they found Bergen’s body, said Cindy Matthews, West Metro Fire District spokeswoman.
“The death will be investigated as a homicide,” Lakewood Police spokesman Steve Davis said in a statement issued just before noon. The statement said Bergen “was the victim of suspicious circumstances.”
Davis did not disclose what those circumstances were and was not immediately available for comment. Davis said earlier that police officers had been dispatched to the home in the past on domestic violence and restraining order violation calls.
Thursday’s turn in the investigation was not unexpected. At least one neighbor reported hearing a car speeding away from the area just before seeing the flames. And West Metro investigators became suspicious in the immediate aftermath of the fire.
“Because of the way things had burned, it was a very meticulous investigation,” Matthews said Wednesday. “It was painstakingly slow but thorough.”
Investigators were checking neighbors’ reports of at least one blast before flames erupted into view.
“Neighbors reporting hearing several explosions or one big one. The accounts kind of vary, but we cannot confirm that there was an explosion or not at this point,” Matthews said
Matthews said the flames were visible from Fire Station 5 on W. 20th Avenue west of Youngfield as fire crews headed for the scene.
When West Metro fire fighters arrived on the scene, the fire already was intense and emitting heavy smoke. About 25 fire fighters battled the blaze for about 30 minutes before it was extinguished.
”The thing about night fire is they often burn undetected initially and then it’s when they make it outside that people notice,” Matthews said.
Fire fighters rescued two dogs from the burning home. One was taken to Wheat Ridge Animal Hospital and is expected to survive. The other dog is staying with neighbors.
