MONROVIA — A large electrical fire gutted a home Friday but resulted in no injuries, authorities said.
The fire was reported about 3:30 p.m. in the 500 block of South 5th Avenue,just north of the Foothill (210) Freeway Monrovia Fire Department Chief Chris Donovan said.
“Upon arrival, the crews found a fully involved front of the house,” Donovan said. “It was a pretty significant fire.”
After dousing the flames, investigators determined the fire was sparked because of an electrical issue inside a closet of the home, the chief said. No injuries to civilians or firefighters were reported.
Officials estimated the fire caused about $250,000 worth of damage to the house and its contents, Donovan added. The house was red-tagged pending repairs.
The lone resident of the home, a woman, found her own temporary lodging, and Red Cross assistance was not needed, officials added.
She was not inside the home when the fire ignited because she had just left to chase after a pet dog that had run away, Monrovia police Lt. Nells Ortlund said.
Shortly after officials arrived at the flaming home, the woman returned with the missing dog, he said.
Donovan commended his firefighters for preventing the fire from becoming worse than it was.
“The guys did a great job in keeping the fire contained to the home,” Donovan said. “There was direct exposure to an RV parked out front and neighbors’ homes.”

PHOTO courtesy of the Monrovia Fire Department

PASADENA — Charges were filed and new information released Friday in the shotgun slaying of a Pasadena man during a robbery earlier this month.
Prosecutors filed charges against three alleged killers in the Jan. 15 fatal shooting of 21-year-old Zane Goldstein of Pasadena at Chester Avenue and Maple Street.
Two of the suspects, Peter Parra, 35, of Pasadena and Kevin Jessie Cabrera, 25, of North Hollywood, were arrested earlier this week and remain in custody, Pasadena police Lt. Tracey Ibarra said.
A third suspect, identified as Raymond Frank Conchas Jr., 23, was also charged with Goldstein’s murder Friday, though he remained at large, according to police and Los Angeles County District Attorney’s officials.
Police were also seeking Stephanie Urias Jacquez, 20, for questining in the case. She may be travelling with Conchas.
Parra, Caberera and Conchas face charges of murder, with the special circumstance of robbery and the allegation that the crime was gang-related, according to district attorney’s officials. They are also accused of attempted second-degree robbery with the allegation the crime was gang-related, as well as the allegation that a firearm was used.
“Although filed as a capital case, a decision will not be made on whether to seek the death penalty until after the defendants are ordered to stand trial,” district attorney’s officials said in a written statement.
An arraignment scheduled for Friday in Pasadena Superior Court was postponed until Feb. 7, district attorney’s office spokeswoman Sandi Gibbons said.
A 17-year-old Pasadena boy arrested the day after the shooting remained in custody Friday at a juvenile facility due to an alleged probation violation, however it was not yet clear whether he would face charges in the homicide case, officials said.
A man and two women previously arrested in connection with the slaying were released without charges pending further investigation, Ibarra said.
Goldstein died at a hospital two days after the shooting, which Ibarra said was believed to have stemmed from a business transaction-turned-robbery.
He and his 24-year-old brother met the suspects near a Holliston Avenue apartment complex around the corner from where the fatal shooting took place, Ibarra said.
“The victims had gone over to meet the suspects to sell an item,” the lieutenant said. “In the process of that, the suspects decided to rob the victims, and ultimately one of the victims was shot.”
The older brother suffered a minor injury to an “extremity” in the incident, though it remained unclear Friday how the injury occurred.
Ibarra declined to discuss what the item the brothers were selling.
The brothers had just driven away from the meeting place when they were followed by the suspects in a tan vehicle, police said. The older brother called police a short time later to report his brother had been wounded.
The investigation is ongoing, and Ibarra said police continue seeking additional persons of interest.
According to county booking records, Parra, a parolee, was being held without bail, while Cabrera was being held in lieu of $1 million bail.

PHOTOS of Raymond Conchas and Stephanie Jacquez courtesy of the Pasadena Police Department.

ANGELES NATIONAL FOREST — Investigators have a mystery on their hands after hikers discovered the body of a woman, apparently stabbed to death, along a hiking trail in the forest north of the eastern San Gabriel Valley.
The body, initially described as that of a woman who appeared to be in her 20s or 30s, was found shortly after 2 p.m. Thursday alongside a hiking trail at the east end of East Fork Road, according to Los Angeles County sheriff’s and coroner’s officials.
Rescuers responded to the scene and pronounced the woman dead at 2:33 p.m., coroner’s Assistant Chief of Operations Ed Winter said.
She appeared to have suffered “sharp trauma” inflicted by a “stabbing implement,” said Lt. David Coleman of the Sheriff’s Homicide Bureau, however he declined describe the injuries or weapon involved in the killing, citing the ongoing investigation.
An autopsy will be conducted on the body.
It did not appear the body had been killed elsewhere and dropped of in the forest, the lieutenant added.
Based on evidence found at the scene, “We believe it happened there,” he said.
The body was found clothed and out in the open, with no signs of an attempt to bury it, Coleman said.
Investigators went through area missing persons cases for a possible connection to the body with no success, Coleman said.
“We’ve dismissed all the leads regarding missing persons,” he said.
Investigators were planning to create a composite drawing of the woman to release to the public in hopes of learning her identity, Coleman said.
Though the area where the body was found is in a remote part of the forest, it’s a popular spot for forest visitors such , officials said.
Thursday’s discovery was the second time in the past week human remains were found in the Angeles National Forest.
Detectives following up on the Jan. 8 discovery of a shallow grave containing animal remains, which was believed to be related to ritualistic animal sacrifice, discovered the remains of a person Saturday near mile marker 2.72 of Big Tujunga Canyon Road, north of Sunland, sheriff’s officials said.
“Due to the condition of the remains, age, gender, and identification is unknown at this time, pending the coroner’s investigation,” Deputy Don Walker of the Sheriff’s Headquarters Bureau said the day of the discovery.
Further details regarding the body or the circumstances in which it was found were being withheld Friday due to a security hold placed on the case by sheriff’s homicide detectives, Winter said.