The Atlanta doctor who died in a mysterious house fire Saturday was arrested days before for allegedly attacking a woman at the residence, police said.
Dr. Marcus Moseley was charged with battery Thursday when he allegedly attacked a woman he believed was having an affair with his wife, according to the police report.
Authorities have yet to say whether the domestic dispute is related to the house fire in southwest Atlanta, which officials are investigating as a case of arson. Witnesses say they saw Moseley, 48, running out of the home Saturday, on fire and barely wearing any clothes, toward the backyard area, said Atlanta fire Sgt. Cortez Stafford. Moseley's body was recovered from the backyard pool.
According to the Atlanta Police report on the domestic dispute, Moseley’s wife, Anita Moseley, told police that her husband came home unexpectedly and attacked her friend. She said the woman was her best friend who had come to the home to comfort her on a day she was to have surgery.
Marcus Moseley told police he believed the two were having an affair, and that he lost his temper when he saw them sitting close together in a back bedroom of the home, according to the report. Police said he acknowledged he attacked his wife’s friend.
The woman, who suffered a bruise on her forehead and cuts on her lips, was treated at the scene.
Anita Moseley is the owner of the property, according to Fulton County property tax records. The house is described as a one-story ranch having five bedrooms, two full baths and two half baths, and a pool.
On Tuesday, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported that firefighters found an unexplained quantity of flammable liquid or gas at the home on the 900 block of Oriole Drive in southwest Atlanta.
The Atlanta Fire Department’s incident report on the 6:15 p.m. fire listed a liquid or gas as a “contributing factor.” The report also listed the cause of the fire as “intentional,” although fire authorities say that was a preliminary judgment and that they are continuing to investigate the blaze as arson. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution obtained the report through the State Open Records Act.
Officials are still investigating the circumstances surrounding the fire and how Moseley ended up dead in the pool.
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