Police arrest ‘person of interest’

Henrico County police arrested a woman named as a person of interest in the death of another young woman at an apartment fire Wednesday.

Police yesterday arrested Kayla Camille Armstrong, 25, on charges of assault and vandalism against the deceased woman, Keiona Cecilia Tiree Braxton, 26, stemming from an incident four days earlier.

Armstrong has a history of violence against Braxton, police said.

Henrico County court records show Armstrong was arrested on a November 2007 complaint by Braxton about profane language, just days after Armstrong made a similar complaint about Braxton. Both women were found not guilty.

Police have not said how the two women knew each other.

Braxton died shortly after firefighters found her, unconscious, inside a burning townhouse-style apartment in the 5700 block of Crenshaw Road, in northern Henrico County.

Firefighters had responded to a neighbor's call about smoke and had to force their way in, finding Braxton on the lower floor of the two-story apartment. Although they immediately began performing cardiopulmonary resuscitation, they were unable to revive her. She was pronounced dead at the scene.

Police declined to release Braxton's cause of death until an autopsy could be performed by the state medical examiner's office. But they did say she may not have died in the fire.

-- David Ress