Update on fire and deaths

[cayting]

Just returned from the funeral for Nichole and Mary Gross (ages 15 and 12). There were so many wonderful testimonies of their joy and faith in Christ. It was amazing to hear of ones so young actually impacting so very many people! Thanks be to God.

Here, however, is the downside....the latest news article concerning the fire:


Sat, Feb 21 2009

Currently
41
H: 45 L: 20


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Published: February 20, 2009 08:32 pm print this story email this story

Hancock man set fire ‘with hopes of receiving donations’
by Jeffrey Alderton
Cumberland Times-News

HANCOCK — The Hancock man charged with first-degree murder in Monday’s fire that killed two sisters told investigators he set the fire “with hopes of receiving donations from the community,” according to charging documents in the case.

Clarence Franklin Meyers Jr., 38, said he sprayed lighter fluid onto the electrical panel next to a natural gas furnace in the basement of the two-story residence at 220 Old Route 40 and then used a cigarette lighter to ignite a piece of paper.

The burning paper then fell onto a sofa before Meyers attempted to “stamp it out,” according to the court papers detailing his confession to police.

Fifteen-year-old Nicole ReAnn Gross and 12-year-old Mary Ann Gross, both Cumberland natives, perished after apparently being trapped in their second-floor bedroom. The girls died of smoke inhalation and thermal injuries.

Their mother, Melissa Nicole Lindemann, jumped through a first-floor window to safety. She suffered a laceration to the leg and was admitted to Winchester (Va.) Medical Center following the 10:45 p.m. fire. Meyers was treated at the scene for smoke inhalation and at Winchester Medical Center before he was released from there.

Meyers remained jailed without bond Friday at the Washington County Detention Center following his arrest on a charge of first-degree arson and two counts each of first-degree murder, first-degree child abuse causing death, first- and second-degree malicious burning.

Meyers confessed to investigators during an interview Thursday night at the Maryland State Police barrack in Hagerstown.

“Mr. Meyers admitted that he set the fire with hopes of receiving donations from the community,” read the court documents.

Western Region Deputy Fire Marshal Jason Mowbray said, “The incident itself is incredibly tragic but we are ecstatic that a successful closure of the case has been made with this arrest.”

Mowbray said evidence gathered at the scene by investigators, which included electrical engineers and fire research engineers with the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, is being examined.

The investigation was led by the Fire Marshal’s Office with assistance of the ATF and the Maryland State Police Homicide Unit.
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