Autopsy: Woman Stabbed Before Apartment Fire

Raleigh, N.C. — A woman whose body was found two weeks after a suspicious apartment fire had been stabbed before the fire, according to an autopsy report released Thursday.

A Feb. 22 fire at the Pines of Asheton complex on Roselle Court near WakeMed killed Rosa Elena Carranza-Morales, 26; Noureddine Elamrani, 30; and their 11-month-old daughter, Dayna Sofia Elamrani-Carranza, police said.

Raleigh Fire Department investigators found what is believed to be an accelerant inside the apartment. The chemical has been sent to the lab for testing.

But an autopsy conducted by the State Medical Examiner's Office in Chapel Hill determined Carranza-Morales died after being stabbed once in the chest.

The stab wound damaged her liver, aorta and lung, the autopsy report said, and injuries suffered in the fire were post-mortem.

Carranza-Morales took out a restraining order against Elamrani nine days before the fire, according to court records. She said in her filing that Elamrani beat her and she feared he would kill her.

The fire left 17 other people homeless. A 4-year-old girl who lived at the apartment with the victims was found safe with relatives.

The fire remains under investigation by the Raleigh Police Department's major crimes task force.

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Latest Comments

i want to say that i was over there when this happen and it was scarey the police said that some on throw a bomb inside of the window and it killed the family . it wwas sad the mazn thast got killed was the maintance man for pine of aston apt.he was a nice man,i hate to see that it happen to him. my question is what is going to happen the complex is getting out of hand every time i go and visit my brother there are polices car every where........ to much for a city like this

investagator7
March 9, 2007 12:44 p.m.

We still don't know the details of what "really" happened. Let's just wait and see what the investigators say before we start passing judgement on people. Maybe he acted in a foolish manner and I am certainly not taking up for an abuser, but lets wait and see what is said on the cause and then maybe we can find out the why. I lived near them and knew them and I never saw anything out of the ordinary, but then again I did not live in their house, but it is a sad situation because a young child is left without a mother or her sister.