ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, October 19, 1996 TAG: 9610210033
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-4 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: CHARLOTTESVILLE
SOURCE: Associated Press
A University of Virginia senior who died in an early morning fire was intoxicated when the fire broke out, police said Friday.
Elizabeth Lunsford McGowan, a 22-year-old senior history major from Dahlgren, died in the pre-dawn Thursday blaze that engulfed the downstairs portion of her two-story apartment.
McGowan had a blood-alcohol level of 0.25 when she died, said police Capt. A.E. Rhodenizer, three times higher than the state's legal limit for driving under the influence
``It tells us alcohol was a factor,'' Rhodenizer said. ``We don't know whether it prevented her from getting out of the building. We probably won't ever know.''
Charlottesville Commonwealth's Attorney Dave Chapman, meanwhile, is awaiting the results of the joint police and fire investigation before deciding whether to charge two UVa students who threw a smoke bomb into the duplex. The bomb is the suspected cause of the blaze.
The two male students, also seniors, told police they threw two smoke bombs as a prank inside McGowan's front door between 3 and 3:30 a.m. after several smoke bombs placed outside the two-story duplex went unnoticed.
LENGTH: Short : 34 lines KEYWORDS: FATALITYby CNB