The San Francisco Police Department is investigating what they're describing as a "suspicious death" in Bernal Heights, after firefighters who discovered a body suggested that there was more the the case than meets the eye.

The San Francisco Fire Department was summoned to a home on Peralta Avenue between Ripley Street and Esmeralda Avenue at 9:30 Tuesday morning, where they found an as-yet-undescribed person who had passed from this life, SFPD spokesperson Sergeant Danielle Newman says.

The firefighters, who sensed that something was amiss about the circumstances of the person's demise, called SFPD to the scene.

Homicide investigators have since taken over the case, KTVU reports, though it's up to the medical examiner to make the final decision on whether or not this death was indeed a homicide.

SFPD had no other details to provide at this time, but reminds us that their Homicide Tip Line is always happy to take relevant calls at 415-431-2127.

Update: According to the Chron 48-year-old Jules Sibilio was arrested and booked on suspicion of murder in this death. The victim, who the Chron identifies as Sibilio's girlfriend, 42-year-old Mary Atchison, had lived with Sibilio for about ten years in the home in which she was found.

Sibilio reportedly approached his neighbor and landlord Tuesday morning, saying that he'd found Atchison lying unresponsive and asking to use his neighbor's cell phone to call 911. According to SFPD spokesperson officer Albie Esparza, however, "the victim suffered trauma and died at the scene."

According to Bernalwood, at some time in the past, one neighbor says he or she "called the police some time ago as [Sibilio] was clearly beating the crap out of [Atchison] as I was walking by."

Bernalwood also quotes two tourists who were staying next door to the crime scene as saying that "early Tuesday morning, as they returned home from a club at about 3 am, they heard a woman screaming inside the duplex building where Atchison lived."

Sibilio is presently being held in San Francisco County Jail without bail. But his arrest isn't the end of the story for, as Esparza says, "this is still an active investigation and anyone with information on this homicide is to call 415-575-4444 or text-a-tip to TIP411 with SFPD at the beginning of the message."

[KTVU]
[Chron]
[Bernalwood]