BELL COUNTY (March 30, 2009)--Investigators Monday tentatively identified the woman whose body was found in a burned-out house several days after the fire that destroyed the home at 263 Rocky Road south of Killeen as Tabitha Lynn Crawford, 23.

DNA samples obtained from the body and from Crawford’s mother were compared to make the identification, which authorities said was tentative, pending confirmation by the Southwest Institute of Forensic Sciences in Dallas.

State records show Crawford pleaded guilty in August in Bell County Court at Law No. 2 to a misdemeanor prostitution charge; no contest in September to a misdemeanor criminal mischief charge, and guilty in October to a misdemeanor prostitution charge.

In each case, she was arrested in Killeen.

Insurance investigators looking into the cause of the fire that destroyed the house discovered the woman’s body on March 16, a week after the fire broke out.

They called the Bell County Sheriff’s Office.

The fire, which one official described as suspicious, broke out on the afternoon of March 9 and also destroyed a pickup in the driveway of the home.

Authorities said Crawford had no ties to the property or to the owner of the house.