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Woman ID'd in fatal Palm Beach Gardens apartment fire

Posted at 9:31 AM, Jul 02, 2017
and last updated 2017-07-11 22:12:03-04

PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. -- Firefighters recovered the body of a woman after extinguishing an apartment fire in Palm Beach Gardens Sunday morning.

Crews were dispatched to the 4200 block of Randolph Way inside The Fountain Apartments at 8:20 a.m.

Crews encountered flames and heavy smoke coming from an apartment on the first floor.

During a search of the apartment, firefighters found the body of a woman. She was later identified as 55-year-old Melissa D. Eller.

The fire was contained to just this one apartment.

Dennis Curtis lives next door to Eller. He says his dog woke him up.

"I was sleeping and I woke up and came out on the patio and saw all the flames outside the sliding glass door and I didn't want to enter so I sounded the alarms," said Curtis.

Officials say there will be a criminal investigation and an investigation by Palm Beach Gardens Fire Rescue.

An investigation and preliminary evidence gathered by Palm Beach Gardens police is not revealing any indication of foul play.