Mystery surrounds second fire at home where family was left to die in November arson

The intentionally set flames that swallowed an east valley home mid-November claimed a second victim late Wednesday.

The fall arson left the small, single-story 52 Sherrill Circle home a shell, and the case is still shrouded in mystery.

Neighbors said at least two people inside the burning house were left bound and bloody that afternoon. Another who made it out had been stabbed.

A little girl was also in the home, unrestrained but trapped by the flames. She made it out with minimal injuries and was treated on scene.

"We have made no arrests," Metropolitan Police Department spokesman Larry Hadfield said of the case Thursday. "However we are making progress in this investigation."

The second victim — Angelica Jimenez, 27 — died Wednesday at University Medical Center. She had been at the hospital since the Nov. 16 fire and was being treated for severe burns that covered about 90 percent of her body, police said at the time.

At least one other person was transported to UMC with her for burns, but Metro did not have an update on that person's condition Thursday.

The woman's death was ruled a homicide, and so was the death of the first victim: Mario Jimenez, 45, who died from burns the day of the fire.

The plot thickened 30 minutes after the woman was declared dead Wednesday — a second fire scorched what was left of the family's home. Its roof caved in. Most walls crumpled into the debris. And it took Las Vegas fire crews about 20 minutes to knock it down.

It could take half a dozen weeks to determine what caused the second fire, if investigators are even able to do so, Fire Department spokesman Tim Szymanski said.

"Some fires are so destructive, and because you have so much damage from the previous fires, sometimes you can't determine it," he said.

Though the timing was eerie, fire crews have not ruled out an accidental cause. Squatters are "always a possibility," Szymanski said. The weather was windy, and someone seeking shelter might have dropped a cigarette or tried to keep warm, he said.

Neighbors nearby had mentioned they'd seen people come and go from the home since the first fire, "but then again, one of the relatives told investigators they went in there to get stuff after the fire," Szymanski said.

"We look at all fires as being accidental," he said. "When all the accidentals are ruled out, then we look at intentional. They didn't even scratch the surface last night."

Though Metro declined to comment on details of the continuing case, Hadfield said the Wednesday fire would not necessarily affect the investigation of the November homicide, which he said was "separate."

He added that crime scene preservation wasn't a worry because that homicide case had been well-documented when the first fire happened.

If casework showed the second fire was somehow relevant to the November case, then Hadfield said, "we'll follow it."

— Contact Rachel Crosby at rcrosby@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-5290. Find her on Twitter: @rachelacrosby