Police question woman in connection with North Side fires

CHICAGO -- Investigators on Sunday questioned a woman who smelled of smoke about a string of four North Side fires, including an apartment building blaze that killed three men and a woman, officials said. The woman has not been charged with a crime, Police Department spokesman Marcel Bright said. Police found the woman on the street late Saturday, hours after a community alert asking for the public's help, said police spokeswoman Monique Bond. "She had an odor of smoke, which was one of the indications that basically linked her, in addition to the witness statements and the description," Bond said. "We felt confident we needed to bring her in and question her further." Witnesses reported seeing an unkempt woman near the scene of three small fires that broke out late Friday and early Saturday, Edward O'Donnell, commander of the police department's bomb and arson unit, said at a news conference Saturday.

"They saw her by the fires, standing over the fires," O'Donnell said.

One small fire was started in a building stairwell, another was reported on a sidewalk and a third was located on a front porch, all likely started with newspapers and trash, O'Donnell said. A homeowner extinguished one of the fires, and the other two were extinguished by the time firefighters arrived, he said.

The fourth, deadly fire, located within walking distance of the others, was reported shortly before 7 a.m. It began in the three-story apartment building's front stairwell and spread quickly, fire officials said.

Witness statements and other evidence allegedly link the woman in custody to the smaller fires, but investigators don't know yet if she was involved with the fatal fire, Bond said.

Investigators were trying to determine if the fires were connected, officials said.

"There have not been fires like this," said Cmdr. Thomas Byrne. "Especially in such a short time and with that frequency."

Jennifer Carlson, 24, died in the fire, said her aunt, Cheryl Greenlee. Family members originally feared Carlson's 4-year-old son also perished in the fire, but discovered he had been staying with a baby sitter because his mother had worked a late shift in a restaurant.

Three men in their 20s also died, police said. The Cook County medical examiner's office said Sunday their names were not being released, pending identification through dental records and family notification.

A fifth man was in stable condition after jumping from the third floor to escape the fire.

Another fire was reported early Sunday in a Chicago high-rise located about four blocks from the deadly fire, but officials said it was caused by an electrical problem.