Albuquerque police are trying to figure out how a late-night apartment fire, a lost piece of carpet and traces of blood are linked together, according to this morning's Albuquerque Journal.

When firefighters arrived at the three-story apartment complex near Lead and Ash SE shortly after midnight Tuesday, the blaze had destroyed four apartments, flames were shooting through the roof and a couple of dozen residents had been evacuated, the Journal reported.

The fire started in a lower apartment and spread through a utility shaft and into two apartments at the top level, investigators told the Journal.

Investigators found traces of a flammable liquid in the first-level apartment where the fire started as well as three points of origin, according to the Journal.

Pieces of carpet were missing from that apartment, where investigators also found traces of blood, the Journal said.

The apartment's tenant, 39-year-old Daniel R. Davis, hasn't been seen in weeks, neighbors and complex managers told investigators, the paper reported.

The Red Cross was helping house residents who were forced from their apartments, putting seven people up in a hotel overnight, the Journal said.

12:10pm 4/1/08 -- SE ABQ Apt. Fire Called Arson: Fire officials say blaze that displaced two dozen people was deliberately set.

Albuquerque Fire Department investigators have determined that the fire that broke out at an apartment complex at Lead and Ash SE around 11 p.m. Monday was intentionally set, AFD spokeswoman Melissa Romero told ABQjournal.com.

Fire investigators were still working on the scene around noon today, and Romero said the case would be turned over the Albuquerque Police Department because investigators believe the fire was set to cover up a crime scene.

What the crime scene involved Romero was unable to say, and calls to the Albuquerque Police Department haven't been returned.

Meanwhile, the Red Cross is assisting at least two dozen people who were displaced by the fire that broke out at the Casa Morena Apartments at the corner of Lead and Ash SE, near Presbyterian Hospital, according to KOB-TV.

It was the second fire in five years at the apartment complex, where 12 units were destroyed in 2003 and residents had to be evacuated by ladder when a stairwell went up in flames, Eyewitness News 4 reported.

6:00am -- Fire Rips Through SE ABQ Apts.: Dozens of people forced out of homes on 1500 block of Lead SE.

A fire broke out just before midnight Monday at an apartment complex on the 1500 block of Lead SE, forcing dozens of people from their homes and bringing some 50 firefighters to battle the blaze at its height, KOAT-TV is reporting.

The fire was brought under control in about an hour, and residents of the complex's 24 apartments were safely evacuated, Action 7 News reported.

Firefighters told KOAT-TV they believe the fire started on the first or second floor but it quickly spread up the building and engulfed the roof.

Investigators spent the night sifting through debris but are still searching for a cause, Action 7 news reported. 

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