Winnipeg police say the city has recorded its 42nd homicide and it was the result of an arson.
Police say Douglas Wood, 41, died in the 500 block of Pritchard Avenue on Halloween during a house fire.
Emergency personnel were sent to 506 Pritchard Ave. around 10:25 p.m. on Oct. 31 where they found Wood, who was taken to hospital in critical condition, where he later died.
On Dec. 17, police went to a home on Manitoba Avenue and arrested a young woman.
Police said the woman and Wood had been socializing when they got into a fight. The woman then set a fire, said police, and then ran away, leaving Wood unable to flee the house.
Jenna Sereena Kakegamick, 23, faces charges of second-degree murder and arson with disregard for human life.
Police were suspicious about the fire, but it wasn’t until the arrest that they knew it was a homicide, said Cst. Jay Murray.
“We weren’t confident in calling this a homicide until the arrest was made,” said Murray.
“We believe the fire was the cause of death.”
Murray said he wasn’t sure if anyone else was inside the home at the time.
The homicide was the second homicide on Halloween. Matthew Allan Sutherland, 28, was found outside a home on St. Matthews Avenue, where he had been stabbed.
Seven homicides remain unsolved so far this year, said Murray.