San Francisco, CA: Cops: Eight story plunge was attempted murder-suicide

By: MIKE ALDAX
August 30, 2010

Investigators are classifying the death of a woman who plunged from an eighth-floor apartment in the Tenderloin that was engulfed in flames Sunday as an attempted murder and suicide, police said Monday. (Cindy Chew/The Examiner)
A woman’s gruesome death-plunge from an eighth-floor Tenderloin apartment that was engulfed in flames Sunday is being classified as an attempted murder and suicide, police investigators said Monday.

The woman apparently started the fire before leaping to her demise — landing upon a small street-level tree before striking the pavement — at Trinity Towers Apartments, 888 O’Farrell St., around 5:30 a.m.

Fire crews responding to the apartment blaze found the woman lying on the pavement. Inside the apartment, sitting in the doorway, they found a man in his 30s suffering from burns and smoke inhalation, police said.

He was expected to survive, they said.

Police would not reveal more details about the gruesome death. The department has a policy to not report details on suicides or information exposing victims of domestic violence, Sgt. Troy Dangerfield said.

Initial reports indicated that a mattress might have been the source of the fire, but the cause has not been revealed.

The fire did not affect neighboring units and was contained within 15 minutes.

The Trinity Towers is a modern high-rise with hundreds of studios and one- and two-bedroom apartments.

The identities of the man and woman have not been released.