Woman upset over eviction accused of setting house fire that killed 73-year-old man
A Fort Worth woman was upset about her eviction from a multifamily home and the end of her relationship with the man she lived with when she set fire to the residence early Sunday morning, killing a 73-year-old tenant in the process, fire officials said on Thursday.
Latisha Renee Davis, 22, has been charged with murder in the death of Sammie Lee Brown. She was booked into Fort Worth Jail a little before 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday.
There had been a series of domestic incidents between the woman and her significant other in the three or four months they lived in the one-story residence in the 3200 block of Knox Street, officials said during a press conference on Thursday. They were reportedly asked to leave the residence due to the issues. Davis returned, officials said, and set fire to the room she shared with the man.
When firefighters arrived around 5:15 a.m. on Sunday, they immediately entered the burning structure to look for someone who was reported to be trapped, fire department Mike Drivdahl said. They pulled Brown from the fire within eight minutes of their arrival, he said, and worked with medics to perform life-saving measures such as CPR on him until he was transported to a hospital.
He later died in the hospital.
Officials decried the act of violence, acknowledging an act of arson like this resulting in the death of another person is rare in Fort Worth.
“I have to be honest with you, I stand before you today not a very happy fire chief,” Chief Jim Davis said into a microphone. “There’s nobody that wins out of this. The Brown family has not won. The suspect’s family’s life has been changed forever as well. The state of Texas, the city of Fort Worth — nobody wins out of this.”
The chief, who responded to the fire on Sunday morning, highlighted the firefighters who went into the burning building to bring the man outside. There was a “heroic effort” to save the man, he said.
He spoke sternly about his belief that anyone who uses fire as a threat or a weapon will be found and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.
The fact that a person was killed, even unwittingly, during the fire made the charge rise to murder, arson investigators said during the press conference Thursday. An additional charge of arson of a habitation is expected to be brought against the woman.
The man she lived with has been cooperating with the investigation and isn’t facing charges, investigators said. He wasn’t at home Sunday morning at the time of the fire.
The investigators, Brad Simms and Mike O’Neil, declined to discuss details of how the woman is thought to have started the fire because investigation. Fort Worth homicide detectives and agents with the ATF Fort Worth Field Office have assisted in the investigation.
They said they interviewed dozens of interviews before they were able to determine the woman was the suspect. A total of 12 people live in the home, all leasing individual rooms, O’Neil said.
Brown lived several rooms away from the couple, Simms said.
Six other adults were inside and asleep when the fire started, but they were able to escape because one of them smelled smoke and alerted the others to get out, officials said.
Simms said it would be fair to say Davis wasn’t targeting anyone inside the home but the structure itself.
All of the tenants are reportedly displaced as a result of the fire that caused extensive damage. The American Red Cross has been helping them with shelter and other necessities such as clothing.
Davis was in the Tarrant County Jail on Thursday in lieu of $150,000 bond.
This story was originally published July 16, 2020 at 9:47 AM.
