Woman accused of setting fire over keys
September 8, 2007
FLORENCE, Ore. --A woman was arrested and charged with arson and burglary after police say she set fire to the home of a neighbor she thought had stolen her keys.
Sgt. Clint Riley of the Lane County Sheriff's Office said the 23-year-old woman later found her keys hanging from her pants pocket.
The woman was being held in the Lane County Jail in lieu of $350,000 bail.
According to a police report, the woman told a deputy that after discovering her keys missing, she broke into her neighbors' trailer, and began trashing the place.
After going home to fetch lighter fluid and cooking oil, she returned to the neighbors' place and tried to start a fire by spraying lighter fluid on a hot stove burner, according to the report.
When that didn't work, she allegedly placed the oil and a stuffed animal on the stove, according to the report.
She called 9-1-1 and hid in a bush across the street while deputies and firefighters responded, Riley said.
The woman's boyfriend said a friend called him at work and he rushed home to find her hiding in the bushes, barefoot and incoherent, according to the report.
The woman told her boyfriend her keys were missing, at which time he pointed to a set of keys hanging from her pants pocket and "she began to cry," Riley said.
A damage estimate was not immediately available.
