Mother's Death in Apartment Fire was Suspicious: Son

The son of a woman killed in an apartment fire last night believes his mother's death is suspicious.

Maria Lopez, 62, died Thursday night when a fire broke out in her garage-converted-apartment in Mountain View.

“She doesn’t have any alcohol in the house, no type of gas or any propane, or anything inside of the house that would have made it take off so fast,” Paul Lopez, Maria Lopez’s son, told NBC7.

It took fire crews ten minutes to put out the fire, which could be seen for blocks.

Lopez raised Paul and two other sons on her own. Diagnosed with bipolar disorder and a recovering alcoholic, her son felt it was important to keep a close eye on her.

He was at the apartment just three hours before the fire started.

“She’s my mom. She’s all I had. She’s my only parent,” Lopez said.

Lopez’s son says that although a smashed window indicates his mother was trying to escape, the back door was nailed shut, and the sofa was pushed up against the front door.

Just before the fire call, police were investigating a disturbance call made by Lopez.

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