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Inset: Deonna Presbury (Hennepin County Jail). Background: Apartment fire in Minneapolis, Minnesota, allegedly set by Presbury (WCCO/YouTube).
A Minnesota woman is facing murder and arson charges after she allegedly torched an apartment building after a fight with her ex-boyfriend leading to the deaths of two other residents that had nothing to do with the quarrel.
The blaze happened around 9:40 p.m. Aug. 13 in an apartment building in the 1500 block of 11th Avenue in Minneapolis. According to a probable cause affidavit, flames were shooting through the roof as fire crews arrived. Firefighters were forced to use 40-foot engine ladders to rescue two people stranded in their fourth-floor apartments. The victims suffered burns and had to be hospitalized. Firefighters knocked down the fire and searched the building, and reportedly did not find anyone else inside.
But that was not the case.
Property manager David Hollmon told local CBS affiliate WCCO that he realized he hadn’t seen one of his tenants in roughly two days after the fire.
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“I went to the fire department and told them, ‘Hey I think one of my tenants is still in there,”” Hollmon said.
Sure enough, when crews went back they found 66-year-old Kerry Sims and 59-year-old Debbie Leshelle Allen under piles of collapsed roof. A medical examiner determined the pair died of “inhalation of the products of combustion.”
Meanwhile, detectives quickly realized the fire was no accident. Arson investigators determined the fire was started in two different locations on the second floor, the probable cause affidavit said. The first point of origin was in front of apartment 203 near a pair of pink Rollerblades and a bicycle. The second was near the stairwell adjacent to a carpeted area, which quickly spread up the walls to the fourth floor, the affidavit said.
Detectives spoke with the occupant of the apartment in question who said he had been arguing with his ex-girlfriend, identified as 35-year-old Deonna Marie Presbury. He said Presbury was yelling at him from the hallway outside his apartment. She was allegedly demanding some of her items that were inside his apartment, including the Rollerblades and bike.
A woman inside the apartment said she heard Presbury allegedly yell: “I’m gonna burn this motherf—er down … you got me messed up … I’m gonna kill this motherf—er.” An occupant of a neighboring apartment heard the suspect say something similar, cops said. Moments later, the witnesses smelled smoke and the fire quickly spread from there.
While the ex-boyfriend was speaking with cops, he called her and put the phone on speaker. When he suggested she was responsible, she allegedly responded “Love will f— you up anytime.”
Security camera footage from within the building reportedly shows Presbury leaving with a bag of clothing. She walked outside wearing a blue rubber glove and smoking a cigarette, the affidavit said. Calls about the fire came in to dispatch not long thereafter, cops noted.
Detectives later learned this allegedly wasn’t the first time she set something on fire. She was accused of torching other property belonging to her ex-boyfriend and was known to carry a torch lighter. Cops believe the torch lighter could have been the device used to set the apartment fire, the affidavit said. She denied setting the fire in a post-Miranda interview with detectives, claiming she was nowhere near the building during the time in question and only learned of the blaze from the news.
Presbury was arrested and booked into the Hennepin County Jail on Sunday morning on a $1 million bond. She’s charged with two counts of second-degree murder and three counts of first-degree arson. Her next court date is scheduled for Feb. 26.
