September 26, 2008 Person of interest in homicide, arraigned on assault charges Play video

(Jennifer Eagan, NECN) - Police are investigating Craig Shippee in the murder of Joyce Coughlin.

Firefighters found the 51-year-old's body inside this charred building on Main Street in Worcester earlier this month.

It's always been our stance from the beginning that the fire was set to cover up a homicide.

Friday the forty-year-old Worcester man faced a number of charges including sexually assaulting Coughlin the night of her death.

He's also accused of beating another man who saw him attacking Coughlin inside the abandoned building.

Shippee hasn't been charged with Coughlin’s murder or arson.

Worcester police Sgt. Kerry Hazlehurst says it seems Coughlin was dead before the fire.

"The lungs didn't inhale smoke that would indicate...was dead before."

This woman suffered before she died.

Friday, city councilor Barbara Haller visited the burned building.

This woman had a troubled life and I’m sure her family suffered as well.>

Haller says there are hundreds of vacant homes in Worcester that have become homes for drug use and violence.

She's calling on the city to secure the buildings.

Shippee is a level-three sex offender.

He served time behind bars for stabbing and trying to rape a woman almost two decades ago.

Friday...his bail was set at 250-thousand dollars.