CHEEKTOWAGA, N.Y. - A 58-year-old man is charged with the murder in the death of a woman who was found inside of a burning apartment Friday morning.
Thomas Murphy was arraigned on one count of second-degree murder for the death of Jean Hartwig, 63. Cheektowaga Police say Murphy strangled his 63-year-old girlfriend before the fire started.
Police were called to the Williamstowne Apartments where the couple lived to do a welfare check on Hartwig after she failed to show up for work. When they arrived, they heard the fire alarm going off inside her apartment and noticed smoke coming from underneath the door.
Officers forced their way inside and saw Murphy standing in the smoke-filled apartment. There was a fire in a bedroom with someone inside.
Police tried to use a fire extinguisher to put out the flames but couldn't. Firefighters were able to put out the fire.
Hartwig was found dead in the apartment. An autopsy concluded she had been strangled.
Police said they had the evidence to arrest Murphy on Saturday. He is being held at the Erie County Holding Center without bail.
Assistant Chief Jim Speyer of the Cheektowaga Police Department told us Sunday that this is not the first time Murphy has been arrested by Cheektowaga Police. A few months ago, police arrested Murphy on a domestic violence charge. They said he'd held Hartwig against her will. So there was an order of protection, but that only went so far in that it banned "offensive conduct."
The order of protection did not prevent Murphy from being with Hartwig.
