Woman lit apartment on fire after learning boyfriend was gay, lawyers says it was an accident

Apr 9, 2016

A New Jersey woman says that she was burning love letters from her boyfriend after learning that he was gay and that he was cheating on her, and it was this action that led her to accidentally light her apartment on fire.

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Lakishette Williams pleaded her case in a bail reconsideration hearing on Friday. Police said that they pulled Williams from the fire at her home and discovered that she had started fires in two rooms. She was charged with aggravated arson.

On Friday, prosecutors said that evidence of the first fire was discovered on the stovetop in the kitchen, with remnants of charred paper on the burner. In the living room, more burned papers were discovered, along with a can of aerosol.

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However, Williams and her attorney, Caroline Turner, argued that she was not actually trying to light her house on fire. Instead, she was burning the love letters that she had kept from her boyfriend.

“She was devastated,” Turner explained, relaying the story of how Williams had discovered not only that her boyfriend was gay but also that he had been cheating on her with other men. She had wanted to burn the letters to get rid of the reminders.