worth detective jerry cedillo and his partner ernie pate sped over there, too. >> there was a crowd that was startin' to gather and next thing you know, we have about 40 to 50 friends and family and co-workers. and then we had residents that were just, you know, lookin' from balconies, so we had quite a crowd out here >> reporter: by now, firefighters had squelched the flames, and the detectives walked up the steps to ashlea's door. >> when you went into that apartment, what was that like? >> it was um -- it was very disturbing. >> reporter: a woman's lifeless body was lying face down on the bedroom floor. >> we waited until she was turned over and we got a good look at her face. and she was also identified by some of the tattoos. >> reporter: and then they knew. the victim had her name tatooed on her rib cage, ashlea harris. outside ashlea's friends were totally in the dark. >> we were asking, um, if we could talk to ashlea or where she was at, they just said that she's unavailable right now. >> reporter: ashlea's boss, chris cravey had just arrived and was trying to get some answers. >