Police identify body found while AFD responded to northwest Austin grass fire
The Austin Police Department has identified the woman found dead while firefighters responded to a grass fire in the Northwest Hills area as 32-year-old Melissa Davis.
AUSTIN (KXAN) -- The Austin Police Department has identified the woman found dead while firefighters responded to a grass fire in the Northwest Hills area as 32-year-old Melissa Davis.
The Austin Fire Department responded to a grass fire just after 5 a.m. Friday morning near the intersection of Mesa Drive and Cat Mountain Drive. APD said fire officials contacted the police department when AFD found a body during that response.
Davis was found with "trauma to the body," according to Tuesday's news release.
"But this is the closest we've come to anything this serious, ever," said Jeff Heinzelman, who lives near where the fire occurred. "Kind of really freaked us out a little bit."
During a press briefing Friday, a sergeant with APD's homicide unit said that the victim's time of death was 5:37 a.m. The full video of that press briefing is below.
The death is being investigated as Austin's 47th homicide of the year.
Police said this is an ongoing and active investigation.