Neighbors at the Eastampton Mews townhouses are still talking about the arson fire allegedly set by 37-year-old Jennifer Nelson on New Year's Eve.
Documents show that Nelson was facing foreclosure and her home was due to be auctioned off at a sheriff's sale on January 28th.
Police say Nelson has admitted dousing a couch and rug in her end unit with alcohol and setting them on fire. The blaze destroyed her house and severely damaged 2 others attached to it. It even warped the siding of homes across the backyard.
"It's a pretty serious thing for her to do something like that," said fire victim Scott Stewart, "and risk other people's lives and other people's properties."
Neighbors have told Action News they think Jennifer Nelson has a drug problem. Police say she admitted she was high the night of the fire. Friends say her 3 children were removed from her custody months ago.
Lorenzo Lamb, a neighbor, knows Nelson and spoke with her in the ambulance at the scene. "She was very distressed and they had her handcuffed for her own safety to a gurney in the ambulance," Lamb said. "She was just screaming that she didn't want to be alone."
After allegedly setting the house on fire, Jennifer Nelson tried to set her car ablaze according to reports, but neighbors stopped her and held her for police.
Jnelson is out on bail. Her displaced neighbors have been forced to find shelter elsewhere because their homes were so heavily damaged.
Victim Kim Quagliato can't understand why Nelson would put everyone at risk: "I'm just very sad that she would do something like this and harm the rest of us."
Neighbors say a dog in the Nelson home died in the fire. After the blaze, yellow ribbons mysteriously appeared all along Melody Court. No one seems to know who put them there, or why.
