Investigators: 2 dead after domestic dispute and apartment fire in West Knoxville

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WATE) – Two people were found dead in a West Knoxville residence Monday night after what investigators believe was a domestic incident that resulted in a murder-suicide. Knoxville police and firefighters arrived at the scene.

According to Tim Woods of the Knoxville Fire Department, the 911 call came in at about 1:10 a.m. to Meadow Condominiums in the 7900 block of Gleason Drive. When firefighters arrived, they quickly extinguished the fire; then fire officials entered the home and found a dead man and woman. Woods said the original 911 call was related to a domestic incident in which a person had threatened to set the home on fire.

KPD spokesman Scott Erland said in a news release Monday that officers were called to a domestic dispute at the apartment and that smoke was coming from the apartment’s upper floor. According to Erland, KFD firefighters, with the help of KPD officers, were eventually able to enter the apartment through a second-floor window, and when the fire was extinguished, an adult male and female were found dead in an upstairs bedroom.

“Based on the preliminary results of the ongoing investigation, it is assumed that the fire was deliberately set by the deceased man,” Erland explained in the KPD press release. “The cause of death of the man or woman has not yet been officially determined.”

Both deaths and the fire are currently under investigation.