DE Managing Editor 12

Police and fire officials are investigating the possible homicide of a 29-year-old Carbondale woman but are not releasing any further details until later today.

Authorities removed the body of Pamela A. Travis from apartment 1504 of The Fields Apartments, 700 S. Lewis Lane, at about 11 a.m. Wednesday after residents of the complex notified maintenance staff that smoke alarms were going off in the apartment.

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A maintenance man entered the apartment shortly before 11 a.m., determined there had been a fire and removed the 22-month-old twin daughters of the victim. The two children were taken to Memorial Hospital of Carbondale, where they were treated for smoke-related injuries. There injuries are not thought to be life-threatening, police said.

Rodney Mattmiller, who lives in the apartment below the Travis’, has known the victim since she moved in about 1 1/2 years ago and said she had no known enemies.

The fire alarms were going off from 8 to 11 a.m., and we all thought it was just an alarm clock, he said.

Mattmiller said he did not see any smoke from the fire and had not noticed any suspicious people around the apartment Tuesday night or Wednesday morning.

I slightly knew her. She pretty much kept to herself, he said. We had a few cigarettes and a cup of coffee once in awhile.

Carbondale Police Chief Don Strom would not elaborate on what led police to believe the death was a homicide, and he would not comment on the twins’ location at the time of death.

Strom said that as of press time, he believed the twins were still in the hospital.

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Police have no suspects or leads at this time, Strom said. A cause of death was not determined as of press time, and an autopsy was scheduled for late Wednesday night.

We are still collecting evidence and treating this as a crime scene, Strom said. We are calling this a suspicious death because of evidence we’ve collected so far.

Investigators used the Carbondale Fire Department’s new accelerant-sniffing dog at the crime scene. The dog’s handler would not comment on any findings.

SIU Police, Illinois State Police, the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office and the FBI are assisting the Carbondale Police and fire departments in the investigation.

This is a fairly quiet area, Carbondale Police Officer Heather Morton said.