GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (TCN) — A 46-year-old woman is facing multiple charges for allegedly setting her home on fire while her three children were still inside, leading to the death of one of her daughters.
On Saturday, Jan. 25, at 7:22 a.m., the Grand Rapids Fire Department responded to a call on Eastern Avenue Southeast and found a home fully engulfed in flames. Fire Chief Brad Brown said in a press conference that the blaze “progressed very rapidly” both downstairs and upstairs. Forty-two fire personnel arrived at the scene and rescued three juveniles from the residence while their mother, Roconda Singleton, told officials her daughter was still upstairs in a bedroom. Brown said the firefighters “placed themselves directly in harm’s way” to save a 12-year-old girl’s life.
Firefighters rescued the girl and performed CPR before transporting her to a hospital. She sustained critical injuries, while the other two victims sustained smoke inhalation but non-life-threatening injuries.
Grand Rapids Police Chief Eric Winstrom explained that Singleton allegedly “meticulously” removed all smoke detectors from the home, placed them in a bag, and left the bag in the backyard. She reportedly doused the upstairs and downstairs floors and a couch in lighter fluid before lighting it ablaze.
“That’s a pretty effective way to start a fire,” Winstrom said.
The 12-year-old girl was reportedly sleeping when the house went up in flames.
According to Winstrom, the smoke was “so thick you could barely see an inch in front of your face.”
He alleges Singleton “deliberately” set the home on fire “to murder her three beautiful daughters.”
The Kent County Prosecutor’s Office initially charged Singleton with three counts of second-degree child abuse and one count of first-degree arson. She could face up to life in prison.
WOOD-TV reports the 12-year-old girl, Shamiya Stewart, died Monday, Jan. 27, which led to prosecutors charging Singleton with murder.
Singleton allegedly told police that she planned to “die with her three daughters to they could be free.” She also allegedly said she “did it,” adding, “I am not going to sit here and play like I am the victim.”
According to WOOD, Singleton spent time at a mental health facility in August for a “brief psychotic disorder,” during which she took off her clothes in public because she believed she was “being monitored by the government to catch her selling drugs.” During an interview with investigators following the fire, Singleton reportedly said she was dealing with “mental health problems and was unable to find any help.”
Winstrom shared at the press conference, “This is an unimaginably horrific case.”