A prominent Greeley lawyer lost her home and pets this morning to a fire that appears to have started when pipe ashes were discarded into a wicker waste basket next to a couch, the Greeley Fire Department said this afternoon.
The fire before noon gutted the home at 914 15th St., which is owned by Maria Liu, who represented and who was convicted in 1999 and spent more than nine years in prison for the murder of a Fort Collins woman until he was exonerated by DNA evidence.
Firefighters pulled two dogs from the home, but despite efforts to resuscitate them, both pets died, the fire department said.
The home is heavily damaged by smoke and flames, but fire investigators have not determined the value of the loss.
According to public records, Liu bought the two-story, 5,663-square-foot home in September 2010 for $175,000. The home was built in 1923, records indicate.
