Feds rule deadly 2021 Tacoma house fire arson. Police now investigating case as homicide

A fire that burned a three-story house in Tacoma’s North End last year, killing an 83-year-old man, has been ruled an arson by federal investigators, the Tacoma Police Department said Tuesday.

The Dec. 31 fire in the 200 block of Rosemount Way initially was determined by Tacoma Fire Department to be caused by an electrical wire malfunction. James Elliott died in the blaze, and the Pierce County Medical Examiner found he died of asphyxiation due to smoke inhalation.

Continued investigation by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives found the cause of the house fire was not due to a malfunction.

In February, KING 5 reported that a checkbook belonging to Elliott turned up in a truck that belonged to Sarah Ramey, a 42-year-old woman who was arrested on suspicion of setting more than a dozen fires in Tacoma’s central and northern neighborhoods at the end of January. The victim’s son, Dan Elliott, told the TV station that a bank notified him that Ramey was using his father’s checkbook.

More than a dozen suspicious fires cropped up in January, with as many as 11 reported in one night in Tacoma and Ruston. The fires set residents on edge until Ramey’s arrest. She was later charged with seven counts of first-degree arson, first-degree attempted arson and second-degree identity theft among other charges.

The killing brings Tacoma’s 2021 homicide count to 34. Tacoma has matched that number of homicides this year after a violent Labor Day weekend that included two fatal shootings.