LIMA, OH (WLIO) - A Lima woman arrested for allegedly trying to burn a house down with people inside will have her case bound over to Allen County Common Pleas Court.
29-year-old Markiesha Blackman appeared for a preliminary hearing in Lima Municipal Court. The Lima Police Department says that on November 22nd, a fire was intentionally set at 125 West O'Connor with four individuals inside. Those individuals were able to get out of the house when the fire started. Blackman declined to sign a waiver for the hearing, which led the prosecution to call Lima Police Detective Steven Stechschulte. The detective spoke on speaking to a key witness in the case, who witnessed Blackman leave the residence just before she noticed smoke coming from the house.
"That was immediately before probably within a minute or so before she started to see smoke coming from the top and the back of the house. At that point she was going to call 911, she saw four occupants bail out of the house, one of which, at least one of which, had jumped out of the second-story window," stated Detective Steve Stechshulte, Lima Police Department.
That witness also identified Blackman who was located shortly after the fire. Blackman was brought in for questioning where she told her version of events to the detective.
"She admitted that she was angry after she got into an altercation with a couple of people in the house, they refused to leave, so she grabbed her stuff, loaded up a bunch of boxes that were on the back porch, it was a back enclosed porch, and lit them all on fire and left with the house burning," said Stechshulte.
Blackman's bond was not lowered from its previous designation of $350,000.
