Woman found dead after house fire

A woman was found dead after an early morning fire Tuesday at a home in the 2200 block of Beverly Street, near Sahara Avenue and Maryland Parkway.

Las Vegas Fire Department spokesman Tim Szymanski said a woman in her 70s died inside the home. He said it appears she was "overcome by smoke," and died on the bedroom floor, but investigations by police and firefighters have yet to be completed.

Denise Miller, a friend of the deceased woman, identified the victim in the fire as Julie Chez. She said Chez worked as a chorus dancer in the late 1940s and early 1950s at hotels on the Strip.

Szymanski said it took firefighters about 30 minutes to bring the fire under control because of bars on the windows and doors, which had to be sawed off. There was no indication the woman was trapped in the home because of the bars.

The cause of the fire was not known Tuesday. Homicide investigators were at the scene, which Szymanski said is standard procedure in any fatal fire.