Police: 1990 fire likely set to cover up woman's stabbing

Excerpt

More than two decades after someone stabbed Aurora Diane White to death, investigators remain puzzled.
Who killed the 26-year-old inside her South Jackson Street home and then burned her body in an…

More than two decades after someone stabbed Aurora Diane White to death, investigators remain puzzled.

Who killed the 26-year-old inside her South Jackson Street home and then burned her body in an attempt to hide the crime?

Potter-Randall Special Crimes Lt. Gary Trupe said emergency officials were called to White's home at 1417-B S. Jackson St. about 9:30 p.m. March 1, 1990, after passers-by spotted smoke and flames coming from the duplex.

The front door was unlocked and the passers-by shouted "Anyone in here! Anyone in here!" Trupe said.

There was no response.

Firefighters found White lying on a daybed in the west end of the house.

"She was extremely badly burned," Trupe said. "There was nothing they could do to save her."

At first, fire officials thought a cigarette on the mattress sparked the fatal blaze and believed White's death to be an accident. A routine autopsy determined White actually died of a stab wound to her upper torso, Trupe said.

"It was believed the fire was probably set to cover up the homicide," he said.

The killer poured accelerant in the area where White burned and died, Trupe said.

"I just don't think there's any indication she was alive," he said. "She died from the stab wound. That's bad enough. I would hope she wasn't alive when they set that place on fire. That's just adding insult to injury."

Investigators said the last time White was seen alive was 6:30 p.m. March 1. They haven't been able to determine what White might have been doing or whom she was with during the last three hours of her life, Trupe said.

He said investigators think White may have been a victim of robbery and said it's possible she knew her killer.

Investigators had some people of interest, but there was never enough to push the case to the next stage, he said.

"(We) definitely need any information," Trupe said. "(Including) why she may have become a victim of this murder and maybe a robbery."

A decade later, White's death became one that likely helped shape current city policy, Trupe said. In 1990, Special Crimes wasn't routinely called to fire deaths and because of that started White's homicide investigation about 24 hours late; the unit was only contacted when the autopsy results came back, Trupe said.

Now whenever there is fire death, Special Crimes is always called unless it's obvious what happened, he said.