Arson, homicide detectives investigate South Side fire where mother, daughter diedon March 1, 2021 at 6:13 pm

Arson and homicide detectives were investigating a Sunday fire in the Gresham neighborhood in which a mother and her daughter died.

The cause of fire hasn’t been determined, but there was enough evidence at the scene to turn over the investigation to police, according to Chicago fire spokesman Larry Langford.

Chicago police bomb and arson detectives, as well as homicide detectives, were investigating the cause of the fire, a police spokeswoman said Monday.

Porche Stinson Ford, 15, and Ieshia Ford, 34, were found in the burning house by firefighters about 4 a.m. Sunday in the 8600 block of South Hermitage Avenue, officials said.

They were taken in critical condition to Little Company of Mary Hospital, where they were pronounced dead.

Autopsy results were expected to be released later Monday by the Cook County medical examiner’s office.

Neighbors told CBS2-Chicago that the fire broke out in the rear of the home where Ford and her daughter lived. Neighbors told the station that the girl was 10 years old, but the medical examiner’s office listed her age as 15.

Two other women and two men were taken to Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn for treatment, police said.

The home had no working smoke detectors, fire officials said.

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