Woman charged with arson

May 22--UNION -- A woman has been charged with setting the fire that damaged the trailer she and her child were living in earlier this week.

April Lynn Hudson, 28, 101 Toshes Creek Circle, Room 101, Union, is charged by the Union County Sheriff's Office with arson third-degree, arson/burning to defraud insurer, and animals/ill treatment of animals in general, torture.

Hudson is charged in connection with a fire that caused $7,000 worth of damage to a trailer at 117 Magnolia Circle, Union Tuesday morning. At the time of the fire, Hudson was living in the trailer which she was renting from Carroll Sailors. She was living there with her child and two family pets, a puppy and a cat. Neither Hudson nor her child were in the trailer when it burned and firefighters responding to the blaze were able to rescue the puppy but were unable to save the cat.

In a statement announcing Hudson's arrest Thursday afternoon, Sheriff David Taylor said that Hudson had admitted to investigators that she'd set the fire.

"On May 19, 2015 at approximately 11:55 a.m., a call came into 911 of a reported structure fire at 117 Magnolia Circle inside Sailors Mobile Home Park," Taylor said. "When firefighters arrived on scene, they found the mobile home fully engulfed in flames. The home was being rented to April Lynn Hudson at the time of the incident.

"Deputies and the Arson Investigator arrived on scene at the request of firefighters," he said. "When officers arrived on scene, Hudson stated to officers that she had left her home to take her child to school and received a call a short time later that the home was on fire. SLED Arson Team and the Sheriff's Office Arson Investigator later interviewed Hudson again and she admitted that she had set the mobile home on fire."

Taylor said that Hudson also admitted that she left the puppy and the cat in the trailer "with the knowledge that she had set fire to it."

As for Hudson's motive in setting the fire, Taylor said. that Hudson "admitted that she had renters insurance on the mobile home's contents and that due to financial troubles decided to set fire to the home to collect the insurance money."

Taylor said that no more charges are expected to be filed in the case.

The warrant for Hudson's arrest on the charge of arson third-degree states that she "intentionally set two fires at her residence at 117 Magnolia Circle with the intent to destroy the said residence."

The warrant for Hudson's arrest on the charge of arson/burning personal property to defraud insurer states set fire to her residence "causing damage to the residence and personal belongings. After this she filed a claim with Sate Farm to obtain benefits."

The warrant for Hudson's arrest on the charge of animals/ill treatment of animals in general, torture states that she did "cruelly kill a cat ... causing unnecessary pain and suffering to the said cat while setting the residence on fire with it inside."

The Southside Fire Department was dispatched to the scene at 11:56 a.m. and called in the Monarch, Buffalo, and City of Union fire departments for assistance along with the Union County EMS and Lockhart Power. Firefighters would remain on the scene for six hours, putting out the blaze during the first hour and then remaining on the scene while sheriff's deputies and a SLED arson investigator conducted their investigation.

Southside Fire Department Public Information Officer Roger Bailey said Wednesday firefighters called in the deputies after they were unable to determine the cause of the fire.

The incident report filed by the sheriff's office states that when deputies arrived on the scene, they spoke with Southside Fire Chief Michael Lancaster who told them that the fire's point of origin may have been a receptacle near the head of a bed in the master bedroom. The deputies then entered the structure in order to take pictures of the damage caused by the fire.

Deputies then spoke with Sailors who told them the structure was thought to be a 2000 model, grey, three bedroom, two bath, single-wide mobile home valued at $17,000. The report states that Sailors told deputies that he did not carry insurance on any of the homes located in his trailer park.

The deputies then spoke with Hudson who said that when she left the residence at 11:50 a.m. to take her child to school everything was fine. Hudson said she dropped her child off at 11:55 a.m. and was on her way to her mother's home when she received a call at 12:05 p.m. from Josh Ham telling her that her home was on fire. She said that Ham had himself received a call at noon from a neighbor telling him of the fire.

Deputies also spoke with Johhn Kingsmore, a witness who the report states was the first on the scene. Kingsmore said when he arrived he saw two individuals in the yard of the residence who appeared to be trying to contact neighbors. He said he also saw heavy black smoke exiting through the broken windows of the home. Kingsmore added that a neighbor had told him that he saw blue smoke about 20 minutes prior to the arrival of the fire trucks. He then gave deputies a written statement.

The deputies then spoke with dispatch and were informed that the original call came in at 11:55 a.m. from Jeremy Shoe, a neighbor. Fire and rescue were then dispatched at that time and arrived on the scene at 12:01 p.m.

Deputies spoke with Shoe by phone and he told them he was returning home and saw the smoke coming from the trailer. Shoe said he went to see where it was coming from and noticed the back windows of the trailer were broken and smoke was coming out of them. He said he called 911 and then contacted Sailor. He said he did not see anyone around the trailer at that time.

The report states Investigator Scott Coffer was contacted by the responding deputies and informed of the situation. Coffer advised Sgt. Jeff Wright to contact SLED and have an arson investigator come to the location to further investigate the incident.

Victims forms were given to both Sailors and Hudson, both of whom were informed that an investigator would be contacted and follow up on the case.

Charles Warner can be reached at 864-762-4090 or [email protected].

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