DATE: Friday, October 17, 1997              TAG: 9710170638

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B9   EDITION: FINAL 

TYPE: Briefs 

                                            LENGTH:   41 lines

COURTS & CRIME

Police have identified the body of a woman found dead Wednesday in the Prentis Park section.

The victim was 48-year-old Dorothy Smith, who lived in the 1400 block of Elm Ave. Her body was found a few houses from where she lived.

The body was found in a yard, not inside a house as previously reported, said police spokeswoman Lindsay Disbrow.

The cause of death will not be released until the investigation has been completed, Disbrow said.

Anyone with information is asked to call Detective R.L. Huntington at 393-8536 or Crime Line at 488-7777.

Another vacant house is torched in Fairwood Homes

A fire Wednesday night became the latest in a string of arsons in the Fairwood Homes section, where more than 600 homes are scheduled to be demolished.

The fire, which occurred about 7:30 p.m. in a vacant house in the 300 block of McLean St., has been ruled an arson, a fire official said. Firefighters allowed the blaze to burn the vacant row house because it was set for demolition, the official said.

Since July 1, firefighters have been called to the area at least 32 times to put out fires in vacant row houses. Some of the fires have been ruled arsons and some have been listed as suspicious, the official said. The fires are under investigation.

Fairwood Homes, a 279-acre low-income housing community, was built after World War II. In May, city officials reached an agreement with Portsmouth Partners of Virginia to raze most of the houses and build a commerce park. KEYWORDS: MURDER FIRE ARSON

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