Man Charged After Woman's Burned Body Found

WHITAKERS, N.C. — A Louisiana man was arrested Friday and charged with murder after Nash County authorities found a woman's body on fire late Thursday.

The Salem Fire Department responded to a call of a woods fire on Lonesome Pine Road in Whitakers at about 8:30 p.m. Thursday, authorities said. Firefighters found that the fire involved a woman's body, authorities said.

The woman's identity and a cause of death hadn't been determined by Friday evening.

Brizuela Jose de Jesus Madrid, 39, of Gretna, La., was charged with first-degree murder and is being held without bond in the Nash County Jail, authorities said.

Evidence found at the scene was linked to Madrid, and authorities said they believe the woman might have been his girlfriend.

Madrid left Louisiana after Hurricane Katrina but wasn't living in Nash County, authorities said. He most recently was living in a Newport News, Va., motel, they said.