TOMS RIVER — Authorities have identified the woman who died in an Oct. 23 apartment fire as Barbara Booker, 67, and determined that careless smoking sparked the accidental blaze.
Police and firefighters responded to the Highland Plaza Apartments on Highland Parkway around 11:20 p.m., according to Ocean County Prosecutor Bradley D. Billhimer. Crews saw smoke coming from a second-floor apartment and found Booker, who lived there, dead on the living room floor during their initial search.
Investigators traced the fire to a couch against the living room’s east wall. They determined the blaze started accidentally because of careless smoking, the prosecutor’s office said.
An autopsy conducted Oct. 24 by the Ocean County Medical Examiner’s Office determined that Booker died from smoke inhalation caused by the fire. Her death was ruled accidental.
The investigation involved the prosecutor’s arson squad, the Ocean County Sheriff’s Office crime scene unit, Toms River police detectives and the township’s Bureau of Fire Prevention.
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