Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, July 5, 1995                   TAG: 9507050076
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: LAURENCE HAMMACK STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

MURDER CHARGED IN FIRE

City police arrested Raymond Harold Mahoney at the home of a friend Tuesday morning. Mahoney was arrested on a warrant issued by a judge late Monday afternoon after Mahoney was indicted by a Circuit Court grand jury, Commonwealth's Attorney Donald Caldwell said.

Mahoney is accused of killing Brenda Ann Davis, 40, who died of smoke inhalation after a fire broke out at her 369 Washington Ave. home about 5 a.m. May 13.

Authorities said the fire stemmed from an attempted drug transaction at the house several hours earlier. After the drug deal reportedly went bad, Mahoney and another man began to fight, authorities said.

A brick was thrown through a window at the house during the fight. Mahoney, who lived one block away, is accused of returning to the house several hours later and setting the fire, Caldwell said.

Firefighters found Davis' body in a bed in her upstairs apartment.

Police had been investigating the death as a homicide from the beginning, but decided to withhold charges against Mahoney until the grand jury met Monday.

Shortly after Mahoney was indicted, a judge set his bond at $50,000. If convicted of both murder and arson, he would face a maximum sentence of two life terms in prison - without parole, because the offense happened after Jan. 1.

At the time of Davis' death, authorities were investigating a series of arsons and suspicious fires in the city's older neighborhoods. But the fire that killed Davis does not appear to be related to any of the other blazes, Caldwell said.

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