The body discovered after the fire in an apartment at the City Gates belongs to a woman, not a man as it was initially reported. The General Police Inspectorate said the victim is a 74-year-old woman who was killed in a drinking bout. The suspect, a 52-year-old man, was detained, IPN reports.

Natalia Stati, head of the press service of the Chisinau Police Division, said that a team of the Patrol and Rapid Reaction Battalion and a crew of the Botanica General Inspectorate for Emergency Situations were on the scene immediately. When entering the apartment, the firefighters found the body of a woman in one of the rooms. In another room, there was a man who was under the influence of alcohol. A task force and a coroner were called out.

The woman had an abdomen wound caused with a sharp object. Following investigation measures, it was established that the victim drank alcoholic beverages together with the man. A conflict arose between them and he stabbed the woman, setting then fire to the apartment.

The fire was reported in the afternoon of December 18. Smoke was coming out of an apartment situated on the 17th floor of one of the blocks that make up the complex known as the City Gates, at 50 Dacia Blvd.