Grand Rapids, MI, Mom Admits Setting Fire that Killed Daughter, 12
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GRAND RAPIDS, MI – A mother admitted to investigators she set her home on fire while her three daughters were asleep inside, court records show.
Roconda Singleton went into detail of how she poured lighter fluid in a second-floor bedroom to start the blaze and later lit a couch in the living room on fire.
Her intentions were “to die with her three daughters so they could be free,” Grand Rapids police wrote in a probable-cause affidavit.
Singleton, 46, was arraigned Tuesday afternoon, Jan. 28, in Grand Rapids District Court. She was charged with first-degree arson and three counts of second-degree child abuse.
The woman’s 12-year-old daughter died Monday night from injuries suffered in the house fire.
Grand Rapids police and firefighters were dispatched to a house fire around 7:30 a.m. Saturday, Jan. 25, at 956 Eastern Avenue SE. The home was fully engulfed, and Singleton was standing outside nearby.
She told police she lived in the home with her three daughters – ages 7, 10 and 12 – and her oldest child was still inside. The two youngest girls were able to escape the home. Firefighters rescued the 12-year-old from the burning home.
The girl was critically injured and taken to an area hospital where she died Monday night, Jan. 27.
Singleton was taken to Grand Rapids Police Headquarters for questioning. She told detectives her life took a turn last August. She said she was suffering from mental health problems and was unable to find any help, the affidavit states.
Investigators asked her what happened to the home.
“I do not know,” she replied.
Singleton admitted to police she used lighter fluid – along with a lighter – and started the fire in a bedroom on the second floor. Then, she moved to the living room and put lighter fluid on her couch and started it on fire, detectives wrote in the affidavit.
“I did it,” she told police. “I am not going to sit here and play like I am the victim.”
While Singleton was outside, she could hear one of her daughters screaming, the affidavit states. A stranger later came to help, and Singleton let her two youngest children out through the front door.
In the yard, police found a bag with seven smoke detectors that Singleton allegedly removed from the home prior to the fire.
Singleton is currently lodged in the Kent County Jail.
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