She was 25 and curvaceous, and she often drew admiring glances in the gritty Brooklyn neighborhood where she was known to invite men for visits to her apartment, her neighbors and the authorities said.

Called Lorena, she brought two men to her apartment, at 43 Furman Avenue in Bushwick, either late Friday night or in the early hours of Saturday, the police said. About 4 a.m., a fire broke out in the apartment. A passer-by ran into the four-story building and began banging on doors, according to Meta Green, a neighbor. In the ensuing chaos, everyone seemed to emerge from the building — except Lorena.

Firefighters arrived, as did officers from the 83rd Precinct. When the blaze was extinguished, at 4:37 a.m., Lorena was discovered, “unconscious and unresponsive,” the police said, and paramedics declared her dead at the scene.

A Fire Department spokesman, James Long, said that firefighters using thermal imaging equipment found the body on a bed.