DENVER — A 23-year-old man has been arrested, accused of killing a man at an apartment complex then setting his body on fire, the Denver District Attorney’s office said.
Tahlil Johnson is being investigated for first-degree murder and first-degree arson in the death of 52-year-old Seth Mosee on Wednesday.
Mosee was found dead inside his apartment at the Pembrooke on the Green Apartments at 107000 E. Dartmouth Blvd., about 8 a.m. after firefighters responded to a fire.
Mosee’s body was severely burned on top of a mattress inside the apartment’s living room.
Denver Police Department investigators found blood on a couch and on the living room wall as well as a container of lighter fluid.
RELATED: Tahil Johnson arrest affidavit
Police later found Mosee’s car a few blocks away and spoke with Johnson, who said the vehicle belonged to a friend.
The Denver Office of the Medical Examiner said Mosee died of a blunt force injury to the head and cuts to his neck. The left side of his face was fractured, according to an autopsy.
The affidavit said Johnson allegedly bought lighter fluid from a nearby store and pawned a TV for $200 at a pawn shop.
A woman, who was not identified, told police that Mosee told Johnson the day before the fire that he and another person could no longer stay at his apartment.
The affidavit said Johnson got upset and punched Mosee several times and kicked him in the head.
There was later a second fight in which Johnson kicked Mosee several times in the head, according to the affidavit.
Johnson and the woman went to a store to buy cleaning supplies to clean up the blood, according to the affidavit. The two slept in the apartment that night.
The next morning, Johnson is alleged to have started the fire with a cigarette and went outside with ash on himself, the affidavit says.
Johnson told the woman that he had killed Mosee and they should not stay there, the affidavit said.