Victim Identified In Fayetteville Motel Fire

FAYETTEVILLE — Police identified Ronald Keith Davis, 51, as the man who died Jan. 9 in a fire in a motel room.

Firefighters found Davis’ body at the Hi-Way Inn Motel, 1140 N. College Ave., after the fire was extinguished.

Davis’ cause of death was smoke and soot inhalation, according to a Police Department news release.

Sgt. Craig Stout, police spokesman, said Davis was found dead inside Room 120 just before noon.

A cleaning woman discovered the fire when she opened the door and black smoke billowed out, and she saw Davis on the bed and the mattress on fire, Stout said.

Stout said the fire was contained to one room. No one else was injured.

Investigators don’t know where Davis is from, but said he checked in to the Hi-Way Inn Motel on Jan. 4

“The closest relative we could find was his second ex-wife,” Stout said. “His driver’s license was out of Shreveport, La., and he was born in Port Arthur, Texas.”

Stout said investigators believe Davis had more than one son, but they don’t know if Davis had been in contact with any relatives.

Fire Battalion Chief Mauro Campos said the cause of the fire is under investigation and preliminary findings indicate Davis may have been smoking in bed.

He said the motel room had “mostly smoke damage.”

Campos said police arrived at the motel first and used extinguishers to put out the mattress fire.

The Hi-Way Inn Motel is behind Cafe Rue Orleans.

The motel was built in 1950 and bought by the Hari Krupa Corp. in 2005, according to Washington County property records.

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