At about 8:25am Tuesday, Turlock Police responded to a death at East Avenue Manor in the 1500 block of East Avenue.

The caller was the caretaker of the decedent, who reported she had entered the apartment and found Patricia Hill, 71, of Turlock, deceased and burnt.

While officers were enroute, notification was made to detectives, while Turlock Fire and the Stanislaus Regional Fire Investigation Unit were also requested.

When units arrived on scene, they entered the apartment which was partially burned and found Hill deceased in her bedroom with severe burn marks.

Firefighters confirmed the fire had extinguished itself and there was no extension into any other apartments, although there was some extension out of Hill’s bedroom.

“No signs of foul play were found,” said Sergeant Neves. “It appeared that [Hill] had been smoking while in bed, and this caused the bed to catch fire, spreading to the bedroom and eventually to parts of the rest of the apartment.”

A deputy coroner responded to the scene and took possession of Hill’s body. An autopsy and toxicology tests will be conducted to determine her official cause and manner of death.