Set The Fire

Tonya Lucas was sentenced yesterday to the maximum penalty of six consecutive life terms in prison for setting the fire that killed six of her children -- a crime described by the judge and the prosecutor as one of the worst in Baltimore's history."

Man jumps to his death from the Bay Bridge A man jumped to his death from the Bay Bridge yesterday after driving his vehicle onto the eastbound span. The body was recovered from the water shortly after 2 p.m. by a Maryland Transportation Authority Police officer and a maintenance worker patrolling the area in a maintenance boat, said Cpl. Greg Prioleau, agency spokesman. The eastbound slow lane was closed for a short time and reopened after a tow truck removed the vehicle. The closure of the lane caused slight backups at the toll plaza, Prioleau said.

City prosecutors said today they plan to seek a sentence of life in prison without parole for Rene Elizabeth Aulton, the woman charged with murdering her two young daughters by setting fire to the family's Canton rowhouse.Ms. Aulton said nothing and displayed no emotion during a five-minute arraignment hearing before Baltimore Circuit Judge Mabel H. Hubbard.Her lawyer, assistant public defender Michael N. Gambrill, entered pleas of not guilty on her behalf to two charges of first-degree murder and an arson charge.

A roaring fire that sent black and gray smoke billowing over Baltimore yesterday destroyed a vacant warehouse at the former Esskay plant on the city's east side, drawing complaints that the abandoned meatpacking complex has yet to be torn down.Flames shot from the roof of the one-story brick structure built in the 1920s as 100 firefighters fought for 90 minutes to contain the blaze. Police said children were seen running from the derelict collection of buildings in Highlandtown shortly before the fire was reported about 1: 45 p.m.Hundreds of spectators gathered along roads and in an adjacent cemetery to watch.

Attorney Anthony K. Waters may not have set fire to his North Baltimore home to collect insurance payments, but he could still lose his state job and his law license for failing to pay state income taxes.Waters, 45, was acquitted of arson yesterday by Baltimore Circuit Judge Paul A. Smith, who ruled that while there was sufficient evidence that someone in the home set the fire, he was not convinced it was Waters. Waters' wife, Leila, and son also were in the home at the time."I think it's true beyond a reasonable doubt that somebody in that house set the fire.

A Carroll County jury has convicted a Westminster man of setting fire to his West Main Street home last spring.On Friday, the jury found Charles Amidee Stair Jr., 44, guilty of arson and reckless endangerment after about 11 hours of deliberations over two days.Stair's attorney, Margaret Mead, said her client plans to appeal the verdict.Stair was charged with setting the fire on March 17 at his 152 W. Main St. home. The fire caused $50,000 in damage to the 90-year-old house.In his testimony during the three-day trial, Stair denied setting the fire and said he wasn't near his home that day.Stair testified that on March 17 he went to his real estate office in Finksburg, then to Towson and Reisterstown.

When his mother told him on the phone that his Westminster house had been on fire, Charles Amidee Stair Jr. said, he was devastated."I just cried and shook like a little kid," Mr. Stair testified yesterday in Carroll Circuit Court. "I wanted my children to grow up there, it was a beautiful home."Mr. Stair, who is charged with setting the March 17, 1993, fire at 152 W. Main St., testified for about a half-hour yesterday. He denied setting the fire as he told the jury of his comings and goings that day."

A Carroll grand jury has indicted a drifter on charges of first-degree murder and arson in the apartment fire that killed a city man lastmonth.Charles Ray "Chicken Charlie" Ogline, 42, also is charged with willful and malicious destruction in connection with the April 24 fire at 88 W. Main St.Carvin Williams "Big Joe" Hanna, 49, died in the early morning blaze that left 12 people homeless and caused an estimated $100,000 damage.It took 75 firefighters more than two hours to control the fire.

A city man denied setting a fatal fire in an East Main Street apartment building at least 10 times before telling police he started the blaze, a recording of the interview showed last week.In a tape of the interview played in court Friday, John Woodward repeatedly deniedsetting the April 24 fire when he was interrogated by Westminster City Police Detective Lt. Dean Brewer and Deputy State Fire Marshal Frank Rauschenberg.Woodward is accused of first-degree murder, arson and willful andmalicious destruction in connection with a four-alarm fire that killed 49-year-old Carvin "Big Joe" Hanna, caused $100,000 damage to the apartment building and left 12 people homeless.

Man jumps to his death from the Bay Bridge A man jumped to his death from the Bay Bridge yesterday after driving his vehicle onto the eastbound span. The body was recovered from the water shortly after 2 p.m. by a Maryland Transportation Authority Police officer and a maintenance worker patrolling the area in a maintenance boat, said Cpl. Greg Prioleau, agency spokesman. The eastbound slow lane was closed for a short time and reopened after a tow truck removed the vehicle. The closure of the lane caused slight backups at the toll plaza, Prioleau said.

Attorney Anthony K. Waters may not have set fire to his North Baltimore home to collect insurance payments, but he could still lose his state job and his law license for failing to pay state income taxes.Waters, 45, was acquitted of arson yesterday by Baltimore Circuit Judge Paul A. Smith, who ruled that while there was sufficient evidence that someone in the home set the fire, he was not convinced it was Waters. Waters' wife, Leila, and son also were in the home at the time."I think it's true beyond a reasonable doubt that somebody in that house set the fire.

A January fire that destroyed a Northwest Baltimore house and killed five people was not the work of an arsonist, top police officials said yesterday after a meeting with the fire chief."

A fire that killed two homeless men living in an abandoned truck trailer Wednesday remained a mystery yesterday as arson investigators were still trying to determine a cause.Police said yesterday that one of the men may have cut his throat in a suicide attempt.Both victims died of burns and smoke inhalation. Police identified them yesterday as Timothy Franklin Smith, 42, who was pronounced dead at the scene, and John Mark Poling, 41, who died at 9: 20 p.m. Wednesday at Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center.

A jury can hear Rene Elizabeth Aulton's confession in which she told police she had set the fire that killed her two young daughters, a Baltimore Circuit judge ruled yesterday.Judge John C. Themelis said he was satisfied Ms. Aulton voluntarily made the statements to police and that she had not been wrongly deprived of the services of a lawyer her mother had hired for her.The decision came despite Ms. Aulton's pretrial testimony yesterday that she did not remember confessing, even after a tape was played in court in which she told detectives she started the Nov. 15, 1994, fire to kill herself and the children.

Firefighters from seven volunteer companies were kept busy for more than four hours late Thursday night battling a brush fire near Keymar that got out of control when someone cleaning the area began burning debris.The fire flared up Friday after firefighters had left the scene -- and apparently was still smoldering yesterday -- in a 75-foot ravine on Bruceville Road in Bruceville, where some residents had dumped yard waste for years.James Salley, chief of the Taneytown Volunteer Fire Co., said he was called at 11 p.m. Friday and notified that flames had erupted again.

City prosecutors said today they plan to seek a sentence of life in prison without parole for Rene Elizabeth Aulton, the woman charged with murdering her two young daughters by setting fire to the family's Canton rowhouse.Ms. Aulton said nothing and displayed no emotion during a five-minute arraignment hearing before Baltimore Circuit Judge Mabel H. Hubbard.Her lawyer, assistant public defender Michael N. Gambrill, entered pleas of not guilty on her behalf to two charges of first-degree murder and an arson charge.

Firefighters from seven volunteer companies were kept busy for more than four hours late Thursday night battling a brush fire near Keymar that got out of control when someone cleaning the area began burning debris.The fire flared up Friday after firefighters had left the scene -- and apparently was still smoldering yesterday -- in a 75-foot ravine on Bruceville Road in Bruceville, where some residents had dumped yard waste for years.James Salley, chief of the Taneytown Volunteer Fire Co., said he was called at 11 p.m. Friday and notified that flames had erupted again.

Until Friday morning, only this much was certain: A 49-year-old man was killed when his Main Street apartment building burned to the ground in an April arson fire.What remained unclear until late last week was just who would go on trial for the crime.In what has been billed as one of the most unusual cases handled by the county State's Attorney's Office and the State Fire Marshal's Office, two men have confessed to setting the four-alarm blaze that killed Carvin "Big Joe" Hanna.At least one aspect of the case was cleared up by District Judge Jo Ann Ellinghaus-Jones Friday morning when she ruled there was enough evidence to prosecute Westminster resident John Woodward for the crime.

Rene Elizabeth Aulton, the woman arrested on charges of killing her two small girls by setting fire to the family's Canton rowhouse, was indicted yesterday on murder and arson charges.City prosecutors said they do not expect to charge anyone else in the deaths. "There is nothing to indicate at this time she did anything but act alone," said Ilene J. Nathan, the assistant state's attorney who presented the case to a city grand jury.The indictments do not mention Ms. Aulton's boyfriend, Frank J. Wooters, Ms. Nathan said.

A Carroll County jury has convicted a Westminster man of setting fire to his West Main Street home last spring.On Friday, the jury found Charles Amidee Stair Jr., 44, guilty of arson and reckless endangerment after about 11 hours of deliberations over two days.Stair's attorney, Margaret Mead, said her client plans to appeal the verdict.Stair was charged with setting the fire on March 17 at his 152 W. Main St. home. The fire caused $50,000 in damage to the 90-year-old house.In his testimony during the three-day trial, Stair denied setting the fire and said he wasn't near his home that day.Stair testified that on March 17 he went to his real estate office in Finksburg, then to Towson and Reisterstown.