PITTSBURGH (AP) — Police say a 42- year-old woman told them a Pittsburgh boarding house was “filled with demons” before she set it on fire, killing the owner and two other residents.
But police say that suspect, Latoya Lyerly, also told investigators she had argued about the volume of a radio the night before Wednesday’s fire, and that she had threatened to burn down the house.
Lyerly remained jailed Thursday on charges including homicide and arson. Police say she’d been living at the house for three weeks after getting kicked out of a YMCA in McKeesport. She says the owner paid her to cook since she had no money.
The name of the home’s owner hasn’t been officially confirmed. The other two victims are 68-year-old Gerald Johnson and 56-year-old Calvin Turner.
Online court records don’t list an attorney for Lyerly.
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