Woman found dead in her Watkins home after fire identified

The Arapahoe County Coroner's office on Tuesday identified the body of a woman found in her Watkins home after a fire burned it the day prior.

On Monday morning, firefighters found Simone Austin’s body after responding to a house fire in a neighborhood south of Interstate 70 and east of Powhaton Road in Watkins, Colo.

The morning of the fire, neighbors knocked on the door, but no one answered, and Austin’s body wasn’t found until firefighters entered the home.

Her death is now under investigation by homicide detectives, according to the Arapahoe County Sheriff's Office.

Austin, 52, co-owned the house with her husband, Quincy Darnell Austin, according to Arapahoe County Assessor records. They had been living in the house for a little over a year and had been married for a year with no children, she told Arapahoe County Sheriff's investigators.

However, the couple appeared to be separated in recent months, with the wife living alone, neighbors told CBS News.

Court records show Quincy Austin, 40, was arrested in April after his wife called the sheriff’s office to report that he assaulted her, according to call records from the house in Watkins.

On April 14, police arrested Quincy Austin on felony charges of second-degree assault by strangulation and domestic violence.

Simone Austin told investigators that she had gotten into an argument with her husband that “became physical,” according to arrest records.

"She was trying to be intimate with her husband (Quincy Austin) this morning," according to the arrest affidavit. "The situation became an argument in the bedroom."

She reported being strangled to the point of passing out, body-slammed, and struck on her head — which caused her to temporarily lose consciousness, according to the probable cause affidavit.

Austin pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor assault charge on June 28 and Judge Eric Barclay White sentenced him to probation and community service, with a three-year prison sentence deferred, according to court records.

Three days later, on Quincy Austin’s 40th birthday, firefighters found Simone Austin’s body.

The victim underwent an autopsy Tuesday, but the Arapahoe County Coroner said it can release no further details about Austin’s death — other than her name and date of birth — under the explanation that “this is an ongoing investigation and requires further testing.”

Neither an Arapahoe County Sheriff's spokesperson, nor Caleb Connor, assistant fire chief for Bennett-Watkins Fire Rescue, could confirm how the woman died.

The Arapahoe County Sheriff’s Office spokesperson said no further updates were available Tuesday.

“At this time, there are no persons of interest and no suspects,” said Arapahoe County Sheriff's spokesperson Ginger Delgado.

The Denver Gazette's news partners 9News contributed to this report.