John Jefferson
Left inset: Roconda Singleton (Kent County Sheriff’s Office). Right inset: Roconda Singleton’s daughter Shamiya Stewart (GoFundMe). Background: Bodycam video from the Grand Rapids Police Department showing the house fire that killed 12-year-old Shamiya Stewart (WOOD/YouTube).
A mom in Michigan is behind bars for allegedly setting her house on fire with her three children inside — leading to the death of her 12-year-old daughter — in what cops are calling a “shockingly cruel, unimaginable” arson attack.
Roconda Singleton, 46, “meticulously” removed all seven of her smoke detectors from her home before dousing the place in lighter fluid and setting it ablaze Saturday, according to Grand Rapids Police Department officials, who held a press conference Monday.
“I want to say that she should be locked up for life for killing my sister,” Singleton’s 10-year-old daughter, who survived, told local NBC affiliate WOOD on Monday night after her 12-year-old sibling, Shamiya Singleton, died from injuries suffered in the fire.
“Everybody was trying to save my mom and she just wanted to lay down on her bed while her room was lighted up with fire,” the child said. “And she did not want to go but she finally came out. She wouldn’t tell where [Shamiya] was, so I had to keep leading them to my sister.”
Singleton, who is charged with first-degree arson and three counts of second-degree child abuse, allegedly set her house on fire Saturday morning. More than 40 firefighters from 13 different units responded to the blaze as it tore through Singleton’s home “very rapidly,” according to Grand Rapids Fire Department officials.
A bag containing Singleton’s smoke detectors was found in her backyard, according to police and fire officials.
“This is a mom that meticulously took all seven of her smoke detectors and put them in a bag and removed them from the house before she poured lighter fluid all over the house and lit it on fire in an attempt to kill her three children,” Grand Rapids Police Department Chief Eric Winstrom told reporters.
“I think she covered the couch in lighter fluid,” Winstrom added. “That’s a pretty effective way to start a fire.”
Singleton’s 10-year-old was hailed as a “hero” at Monday’s presser, with cops saying she was able to get her other surviving sibling out, along with Shamiya, after alerting first responders to where they were located inside the residence.
“We just thank God for her quick thinking,” cousin Patricia Robinson, who has started a GoFundMe for the family, told WOOD.
More from Law&Crime: ‘They are all on fire!’: Mother who felt ‘too much humiliation’ doused her 2-year-old and 8-month-old sons in gasoline and set them ablaze, cops say
Shamiya suffered burns over 30% of her body and smoke inhalation, which led to her death on Monday night. Her father described her as a “fighter” while speaking to WOOD before she passed away.
“She ain’t deserve this at all,” said Lyn Stewart, Shamiya’s dad. “She’s a good child. She’s my special baby. She was in the NICU (as a baby) for four months. It’s hard. … It’s hard for me. Just keep the family in prayer, please. That’s all I can say.”
Speaking to WOOD after Shamiya’s death, Singleton’s 10-year-old daughter asked, “I want to know, why did she have to do that to her?”
Singleton faces up to life in prison, if convicted.
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